


Inescapable

by Green_essential



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action, Angst, Big Sis fic, Crossover, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Remus Lupin is So Done, Romance, Severus snape is an asshole, Sibling Bonding, Sirius Black is a Little Shit, love square, multiple romantic interests
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 72,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27611065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green_essential/pseuds/Green_essential
Summary: Adrasteia Matthews was not the child from the prophecy. Which was wonderful for her, because she already had enough on her plate. When her father broke two very sacred oaths, she found herself faced with possible execution. But allowing her to live may not have been a gift after all, and when the demigoddess becomes further enveloped in her mothers world, she realizes that oath existed for a reason.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Original Female Character(s), Severus Snape/Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 69





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, thanks for clicking on this story! I hope you enjoy it, as I've been meaning to try this idea out for a while!

The small child stood, trembling, in the center of the room. Her dark hair was done in braids tight against her head, her brown eyes shiny with unshed tears as she looked around the room. Adults always look scary when you’re small, but these weren’t just any normal adults. And she wasn’t in just any old room.

The child, no older than nine years old, was surrounded by Olympians. Twelve thrones in front of her and on either side. She hugged herself, feeling so cold in their celestial presence, as they bickered and argued. Their voices were so loud, and they hurt her ears. Her bottom lip trembled, but she only bit down on it rather hard, stifling her whimpers. She would not cry in front of them.

The bickering and arguing around her grew louder, but she saw in dismay that one god, the one her eyes had flown to when she first entered the room, was not joining in on the arguments. Instead, he was studying her, his sea-green eyes analytical, but soft, even just barely. Right as they made eye contact, the god next to him shook his head, his gray eyes reminding the young girl of the sky right before a bad storm.

_“Enough!”_ He thundered, and electricity seemed to crackle in the air, the slightest hint of something burning touching the young girls nose before the other gods were silent. The girl took the barest hint of a relieved breath at the moment of silence, before the gods turned their eyes to her.

“Brother,” the god with the sea-green eyes said, “You are not truly considering striking down a child.”

_“Your_ child.” Zeus snarled at his brother. “You have broken two oaths brother, one so ancient that most of her _kind_ do not even know of it!” He spat the word ‘kind’ like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

His brother, Poseidon, merely shook his head. “I am aware of my mistake. But I do not believe that killing this child would prove to fix any wrongdoing of mine.”

The words _mistake_ and _wrongdoing_ cut into the girl’s chest, like she’d been stabbed. But, shockingly, she didn’t flinch. She didn’t whimper. She didn’t cry.

“Father,” A goddess spoke, “She is such a young maiden. What would we gain by killing her? We do not know where her loyalties lie yet, I doubt even _she_ knows where they lie.” The goddess herself didn’t look much older; she only appeared somewhere around fourteen years old. But her eyes, silver, were glowing with the wisdom of an old woman.

“It would be foolish to wait for her to decide, Artemis.” Another goddess snapped, who was sitting closer to the Lord of the Skies. Her own eyes, a different kind of neutral gray, glared at the young child. “We cannot wait until the threat is at our door to neutralize it.”

“This is a _kid_ , Athena.” The god sitting next to Artemis shot back. Unlike his sister, his hair was so bright and golden that the child could only watch him from the corner of her eye. “She’s not some hardened warrior, she can’t even remember what happened to her mother.”

“I vote she lives.” Another god chimed in. This one had smoldering, empty eyes, sockets that seemed to glow like flame. His face, scarred and deeply damaged, looked amused. “She’ll be a hell of a fighter when the time comes; she could lead whole armies to victory.”

“Or she’ll completely destroy us all and threaten humanity.” Hephaestus snapped. As he finished speaking, the bickering began again, louder than last time. Yet, one goddess’s eyes were drawn to the child standing in front of all of them. The booming voices of the Olympians was normally unbearable for mortal men, let alone a child, yet the girl did not move aside from the occasional tremble.

“We shall put it to a vote.” Hera said loudly, finally, tearing her eyes from the child. “All in favor of execution?”

Three hands went up: Zeus, Athena, and Hephaestus.

“And all in favor of letting her live?”

The rest of the Olympians hands went up, even the ones who had been sitting bored and not participating, such as Dionysus. But even without his vote, it was clear; the majority were voting to allow her to live.

“It is decided.” Zeus declared, glaring at the young child before him. “Adrasteia Matthews, your life has been spared. Remember this kindness, and remember that we are _always_ watching.”


	2. FAMILY DRAMA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addie's tattoo: pinterest.com/pin/1055599899006671/   
> Addie's Necklace: pinterest.com/pin/342906959119443945

The sun was warm, warm enough to unwind the muscles at the top of her back and make her limbs heavy. She lay on the surfboard, looking at the sky, the waves slowly rocking her. If she hadn’t just woken up from a strong, six-hour sleep, she would’ve drifted off into a nap.

Her arm dangled off to the side as she slowly circled it in the water, the ocean still cool from the night before while the other was draped across her bare stomach. Her legs were dangling off either side of the surfboard as well to keep her balanced. Child of the Sea or not, having to clamber back onto your board time and time again was just plain annoying.

She laid there for another ten minutes or so, calming down after her early morning of surfing, when she heard it.

A voice; distant, but familiar.

“Addie! Addie!”

She sat up from her board, using her hands and feet to slowly turn her body towards the beach. A lone figure stood, waving their arms and shouting. Even from this far out, she could see a head full of blonde hair, blowing in the sea breeze.

By the time she paddled back, Annabeth Chase had her arms folded, tapping her small, twelve-year-old foot against the sand.

“I’ve been yelling for you for almost ten minutes!” The daughter of Athena cried, looking indignant. “Chiron’s back, and we have a new camper!” Her deep gray eyes danced with excitement, as if she just _knew_ that this was the one she’d been waiting for.

Addie rolled her eyes, unable to help the smile that tugged at her lips as the younger girl waited impatiently for her to finish drying off. Due to their parents, they shouldn’t have even been ok speaking to each other. The other children of Athena avoided her at all costs; some of the older ones were brave enough to make the occasional snide remark, though her skills at close combat were usually a good deterrent.

But Annabeth was different. When the girl first arrived at camp with Luke and Thalia all those years ago, a fourteen-year-old Addie had been the one to scoop up the crying child and rush her to safety within the confines of the camp, Luke and Grover trailing close behind as the blonde wailed in sorrow, watching as Thalia’s motionless body growing farther and farther away. Once they were safely across, the four had turned around just in time to see the daughter of Zeus slowly morph into a pine tree. After that, it had been Addie who’d introduced Luke and Annabeth to camp. Showed them where to train, where to eat, the Hermes cabin, all of it. So, even after Annabeth had been claimed, she’d continued to follow the older girl around.

Once her board was stashed away safely and she’d pulled a light sundress over her bikini, the two girls walked towards the Big House. The familiar hustle and bustle of the camp was almost comforting, and Addie’s gaze followed over a small group from Apollo’s cabin, one strumming a guitar while the others hummed and sang.

As she looked towards the Big House, Addie was reminded that this fall would mark ten years since she’d arrive at the camp…

* * *

_A child, no older than nine and painfully small, stumbled across the boundary line. Her face, shirt, and part of her neck was splattered in blood, the scarlet liquid showing up in random patterns. Her deep brown eyes were nearly blank, staring ahead in a nearly catatonic state. There was no expression over her small face. She simply continued to walk down the hill towards the large house, with the glowing lights. The child didn’t know how, but for some reason, she just_ knew _she needed to get there._

_When she was halfway down the hill, a figure slowly became more and more apparent in the dark. The pale light of the halfmoon barely outlined the figure, but it looked like a man was riding on horseback._

_No, not on horseback._ He _was the horse._

_Once the two met, the horseman slowly bent his front legs so he was more level with the child. She looked no older than eight or nine, and her face, shirt, and neck were sprayed in random blood patterns. The blood was slowly drying and darkening to brown, but it was the child’s face that startled him._

_There was no terror, no grief, no fear or uncertainty. She simply stared up at him with a blank expression, brown eyes void of any emotion._

_“Are you alright, child?”_

_She paused at his question, then nodded her head._

_“Are you hurt?”_

_She glanced down at her stained clothing, as if just remembering the mess on her, and then shook her head. “’S not mine.” She told him quietly._

_“Whose is it?”_

_She paused longer at this question, head cocked to the side, and it was clear she was concentrating incredibly hard. Finally, she looked back up at him._

_“I don’t know.”_

_The answer threw him momentarily, but he came back quickly and looked at the woods behind her, expecting to see the last few particles of dust from a monster, or possibly the body of a dead parent that had attempted to help her escape over the boundary line. But there was no one else there. The woods were almost completely silent._

_“How did you get here?”_

_She narrowed her eyes in concentration again, and frustration shadowed her expression. “Um, walked, I think? I don’t know, I can’t remember anything except crossing into the camp.”_

_He looked around them quickly, as if looking for the person who may have erased her memory, but there was nothing. It was completely quiet. In fact, it was_ too _quiet. The camp was silent, and it seemed like the world around them was void of any sound. Even the cicadas were hushed._

_“What is your name, young one?”_

_At this, her face lit up, as if thrilled that she had a straight answer to his question._

_“Adresteia. Adresteia Matthews.”_

* * *

“Ah, Annabeth, you’ve found her!”

The deep voice startled Addie from her memory, and she smiled at the man on the porch. Chiron was still in his disguise of a wheelchair, and he smiled warmly back at the young woman as she bounced up the steps.

“Welcome back, Chiron.” She greeted, leaning down to hug him tightly. After living at the camp for nearly a decade, the trainer had been the only thing Addie had to a father. And seeing as she was the longest living hero so far since in her time at camp, she assumed it was the same for him.

“Good to be back, Adresteia.” He returned, and she sighed, rolling her eyes playfully. He had always refused to call her anything except her full name. Why? She had no idea.

“How was the house call?” She inquired, moving to sit down on the small, wicker bench beside him. His expression turned thoughtful.

“Informative. A Kindly One had actually infiltrated the school.”

Addie nearly choked on air, eyes going almost comically wide. “A _Kindly One_?” She cried, sitting forward more as she curled her legs underneath her. “I haven’t even _heard_ of one of those going after a demigod since…”

“Thalia, Luke, and I?” Annabeth finished quietly, almost bitterly, and Addie turned to see the young girl’s eyes downcast, clenching and unclenching her fist. Shifting up, she laid a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it before letting her hand fall as Chiron continued.

“What was amazing to me was how well he handled it; he was able to destroy her before she even tried to bruise him.”

Addie’s eyes narrowed. “That makes him pretty powerful, Chiron.” She studied his face. “But something tells me you’ve known that for some time, now.”

The centaur nodded, still looking thoughtful as he looked at her. He studied her face for a few seconds before looking back out towards the water. “He arrived last night. He, his mother, and Grover were being pursued by the Minotaur.”

The young woman’s eyes flickered nervously to the sky, checking the clouds before moving back towards her trainer. “Chiron, that’s huge. A Kindly One and the Minotaur both-“

“I know, Adresteia.” He cut her off quietly, then turned back to Annabeth. “He is still unconscious inside, my child.” He told the young blonde, tone noticeably lighter. “Would you please go give him some more ambrosia?”

“Here, let me help.” Addie offered, moving to her feet. Truthfully, she wanted to get a look at the camper that had defeated two incredibly powerful monsters. She knew he was young, as Chiron had told her he’d be teaching seventh graders.

But that wasn’t what threw her.

As she walked into the room, her eyes fell on the boy lying in bed, and she froze. If she’d been holding something, she would’ve dropped it.

The jawline, the tanned skin, the thick black hair…

Addie took several, shaky steps forward, feeling horror rising in her gut. Annabeth leaned forward, spoon feeding some of the ambrosia to him. The boys mouth slackened, and as he struggled to swallow, some of it dripped onto his jaw. Finally, his eyelids fluttered and opened.

And even thought it was slight, she saw the color of the orbs. Green. Green like the sea.

Wordlessly, Addie turned and left, nearly running out of the Big House. Chiron turned as she came onto the porch, but she said nothing, leaping over the steps and taking off for the shoreline. Several campers turned to her in surprise as she passed, but she ignored them, too.

_No, no it can’t be. He didn’t, he did not break his oath_ again _…_

When she finally reached the sand, she slowed, panting slightly. She walked until she finally reached the water, the cool ocean waves lapping at her feet and ankles, as if welcoming her home. But now, it was almost impossible to enjoy. She felt like she was going to be sick, and she ran a hand through her thick, black curls, brown eyes staring into the horizon.

It was quiet, but she knew he was listening. For some reason, she always knew he heard her. So, she spoke.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but for his sake, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

* * *

**PERCY P.O.V**

After the tour, Annabeth took off for her cabin and it was time for me to head back to my temporary home.

“Eleven, fall in!”

At the sound of Luke’s voice, the cabin, all twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in orders of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers from the other cabins, too, except for the first three.

Or so I thought.

When I looked back, a figure stepped out of Cabin Three. Shutting the door softly behind them, they started walking towards us. No, not they. She; it was a woman.

“Luke!” The girl called, and as she stepped into the moonlight, I felt my footsteps slow.

She was older than me, around Luke’s age. She was beautiful, too, enough for several other campers to stop and watch as she approached the blonde. Luke smiled brightly back at her, and they opened their arms to hug.

“Hey, Addie!” He greeted, “Come meet our new camper, this is Percy.”

As she stepped closer, I saw that she looked exactly like everyone’s idea of a boho surfer chick. Her skin was dark, like a light mocha color, and her thick black hair was streaked with brown strands from the sun. Her upper right arm was covered in an intricate tattoo, and I realized it was marine life. A jellyfish, surrounded by limbs of sea plants and flowers. Her ears were pierced all the way up her earlobe and then at her cartilage on both ears. Her wrists were also clad in jewelry, but these were leather chords strung through seashells, like she’d made them herself. Even in the cool evening air, she was clad in a yellow, strappy sun dress and worn, brown sandals. When she shifted, I spotted the straps of a white bikini underneath. But the thing that stood out the most was her necklace. Unlike the rest of her look, it didn’t look self-made or casual. It was a shark tooth necklace, but it was on a golden chain, and the tooth was so polished and shiny, it looked like a strangely shaped pearl. And at the top of the tooth, clamping it to the chain, was a piece of gold, covered in small diamonds.

It looked like it cost more money than me or my mom saw in a year.

But most of all, when I looked at her, something struck me in the chest. Like whenever I thought about that warm feeling that I imagined was my dad.

Her brown eyes turned and met mine, and she froze. But before I could read into her freaked out expression, an easy-going smile replaced it.

“Hey, how’s it going?” She stuck her hand out, “I’m Addie, Cabin Three.”

* * *

**ADRESTEIA P.O.V**

The second Addie saw him up and walking around, she nearly froze. It was like watching a twelve-year-old version of her dad, and that anxious, nauseous feeling returned. But as she walked towards Luke, she swallowed her shock and schooled her face, doing her best to keep her smile as friendly as she could.

“Hey, how’s it going?” She stuck her hand out towards the young boy, “I’m Addie, Cabin Three.”

The boy, Percy, blinked and shook his head, like he’d been drifting off. Then, he grabbed her hand and shook it firmly; firmer than she’d been expecting for a twelve-year-old.

“Um, Percy.” He responded, clearing his throat when his voice broke near the end. She smiled again and nodded as they pulled back, then turned to Luke.

“Mind if I hop in line with you guys?”

Luke nodded, lips turning up into his usual crooked smirk. “You know you’ve always got a home here, Addie.”

But as the blonde walked away, she hung back. A part of her was holding out that all of this was just a really freaky, messed up coincidence, and the only way she could confirm that was by talking to the kid.

“So,” she started, fiddling with the bracelet on her left arm, “I heard you killed the Minotaur.”

Percy nodded, but instead of proud, his face looked sad. “Yeah, um, my mom was trying to get me and my friend Grover across the property line and she, um…” he trailed off, and Addie couldn’t ignore the small prickle of guilt that hit her chest.

“I’m sorry,” She apologized softly, “I didn’t know.”

“No,” he cut her off, shaking his head, “It’s ok. It’s just- I can’t believe she’s actually gone, y’know?”

Tense silence hung in the air between them as they began to shuffle forward in the line, but Addie found herself biting her lip before speaking.

“What was she like?”

Percy turned to her, clearly surprised. “What?”

“Your mom; what was she like?”

Those sea green eyes lit up, and the young woman had to suppress a smile as he began talking. “Oh, she was amazing. She was really nice and calm and always so patient, even thought I was always acting like a screw up. And she had thing about blue food…”

As the boy talked, Addie couldn’t stop her stomach from slowly sinking. His mother, a mortal, met his dad on the beach; and apparently his father was ‘lost at sea’ up until right before she brought him here. Honestly, she was surprised no one else had connected the dots. Mixed with his looks and the way he seemed to cling onto her as they talked, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that what she had feared was true.

Her father had broken the oath a second time.

* * *

After dinner, Addie fiddled with her necklace, twisting the chain around her fingers and letting it fall before doing it again as she watched Percy return to Cabin Eleven. When she saw the younger kid putting his food into the flames, she knew he was praying for their father to claim him. But there was a part of her, the part that was still connected to that nine-year-old little girl that sat in front of the Olympians as they debated to kill her, that didn’t want that to happen.

She’d seen the weather lately; she wasn’t stupid. Something bad had happened when the rest of the year-rounders had gone up for their field trip to Olympus. At first, she’d been a little bummed out when she herself couldn’t make it, but she’d had some more important matters to attend to. That meant that if her father was to claim Percy, he would be the first person Zeus blamed. Did she really want that for a younger sibling?

As she walked back into the cabin, she was reminded even more of the errand when she saw the owl sitting on her windowsill, a thick piece of parchment tied to his leg. Keeping her movements gentle, the girl untied the paper and dropped several coins from the coin pouch stashed under her pillow into the little pouch on his leg. The owl hooted, as if to say thank you, before taking off into the night.

Ensuring all her doors, windows, and curtains were closed, she sat on her bed and unrolled the letter.

_Dear Adrasteia,_

_I’ve sent your credentials to Professor Dumbledore to review. He mentioned to me the last time he was visiting that they were looking for a new assistant for both the Potions and the Transfigurations professors, so that helps increase your chances. I only just sent the letter on the sixteenth of this month, and since I’m not sure where this will be reaching you, I’d suspect it will take several weeks before you receive a reply. However, I’d encourage you to keep your eye out for any owls, as you’ve told me the No-Maj’s you’re staying with know nothing of magic._

_I hope you’re keeping up on your skills, and I hope you haven’t broken your wand again! (I’m joking, of course)._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Elaine Williams_

It took her almost thirty minutes to get through the cursive handwriting, but once she did, Addie let the letter fall onto the bed, chewing on her thumbnail. A part of her was overjoyed that her application and credentials had been accepted, but another part of her suddenly felt hesitant. With the arrival of a possible younger sibling, maybe she shouldn’t be so quick to leave the camp…

Professor Williams had been a close confidant and eventual friend of hers since Addie first started at Ilvermorny. The girl had gotten her acceptance letter when she was twelve years old. She’d been surprised, of course, but Chiron wasn’t. He told he’d been expecting it for some time now, and so had the Olympians. It was surprising to her that Zeus had been willing to let her attend, but as she got older, she’d learned from her trainer that the most of the gods had convinced him that a trained demiwitch was much better than a wild, untrained one.

Addie’s magic had been showing up ever since she got to camp; if it had happened before that, she couldn’t be sure. But she did remember that time an Ares camper had pushed her off the rock-climbing wall, and suddenly fell right when he was at the top. This wouldn’t have been strange if the rock he’d been holding hadn’t suddenly disappeared with a _pop!_

Or a slightly more memorable one was during foot racing the wood nymphs. Needless to say, she wasn’t particularly fast, and several of them began to taunt her. Next thing anybody knew, they had all been forcibly sucked back into their trees and came out almost eight hours later, terrified out of their minds and avoiding her like the plague.

Those weren’t the only incidences, but they were the most memorable. Ilvermorny had been terrifying at first, but to know that there were others like her had been a blessing. Not being a year-rounder had been hard, but through letters, she kept up with Annabeth and Luke.

Except, she couldn’t tell them where she was.

When she first left for school, she learned there were several rules she would need to follow.

  1. She could never tell anyone from the Wizarding World her true parentage. She hadn’t planned on it, but from what she understood, witches and wizards had gone so long without seeing any of the Olympians that they were now taught as myths.
  2. She could never tell the other half-bloods, either. The only ones that knew where she came from was her, Chiron, Mr. D, and the rest of the Olympians.
  3. She was forbidden from using magic within the camp (She tried, once, and a bolt of lightning nearly killed her on a perfectly clear day).
  4. And last, but certainly not least, she could never show her true demigoddess skills or weapons to any wizard or witch.



The rules were pretty self-explanatory: both worlds had to be kept secret from the other. She’d never really fought the rules, as she knew Zeus was still a little PO’d he’d been forced to let her live, and while she didn’t like her uncle, she wasn’t going to push him too far. And once she’d graduated, she knew the gods wouldn’t allow her to stay within the safe confines of the camp much longer. She was actually _extremely_ lucky they’d allowed her to stay past her eighteenth birthday.

But Addie also realized that living just about anywhere was a good way to endanger herself and anyone around her, so she began looking into the places she knew would keep monsters out.

The schools.

Ilvermorny had been her first choice, but they were fully staffed, as they usually were. It was actually where she’d been at the time of the Winter Solstice; getting assistance from Professor Williams about where else she could teach. She’d always been extremely proficient in potions, Transfiguration, and DADA. She wanted to teach, but she couldn’t until she had some assistant teaching years under her belt. So, she applied to one of the best schools, run by one of the greatest wizards. If she could get some assistant teaching experience at Hogwarts, she could get a job _anywhere._

A random crack of thunder, way in the distance, pulled her from her thoughts. Crossing her legs underneath her, she ran a hand through her hair and looked out towards the shoreline.

“I know you hate when people tell you what to do, but don’t you _dare_ let him get hurt.”


	3. PARENTAL VISITS AND PROPHECIES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot to put this in the last chapter but Adrasteia is played by the absolutely beautiful Vanessa Morgan. Also, her name is announced A-dreh-stee-ah

Over the next several days, Addie watched Percy carefully. He wasn’t especially skilled in things that would have been dead giveaways for his godly parent. He was horrible at archery, (which almost made her laugh, because she was atrocious at it) and also sucked at wrestling and foot racing. He was decent at the rock-climbing wall, but that one was a skill that had to developed. In her ten years there, she’d never met anyone who was good at it right off the bat.

Still nothing from her father for claiming, and the smallest part of her was hoping she was wrong, that she was overthinking. But when she watched him absolutely destroy anyone he went up against in canoeing, she felt those turns in her stomach that reassured her that she wasn’t wrong.

So, when she came across Luke attempting to train him at sword fighting, she decided to jump on the opportunity to test some things out.

“You boys think you could use a visual aide?” She called out, stepping forward as the crowd parted. As one of the oldest hero’s that had been coming to camp, she knew most of them, and most of them knew her. She didn’t want to be seen as a bully, but she did have seniority and would be lying if she said she didn’t occasionally enjoy using it.

Luke turned and returned her smirk, gesturing to her necklace. “If you think you need a sword, I’m happy to get you one.”

Addie shook her head. “All I need is some armor.”

Someone grabbed her a spare breastplate, and she thanked them before putting it on, ignoring Percy’s wide eyes as she prepared herself. Luke was almost five inches taller and roughly eighty pounds heavier than she was, so it looked like she was about to be desecrated.

But after ten years of training, she was no longer scared.

Once her hair was pulled back and her breastplate was on, she reached up, grabbing onto the shark tooth hanging around her neck. The light around it seemed to shimmer, and then she was holding a foot-long dagger. Celestial bronze, with sapphires imbedded into the handle. Down the blade, Ancient Greek letters spelled out one word.

_Kataigida. Storm._

“I hope you’re not still sore from the last time I whooped your ass, Luke.” She taunted, swinging the blade in her hand to get a more comfortable feel. The blonde scoffed playfully.

“We were near the ocean, Addie, you got lucky. Just admit it.”

“I don’t need water to put you on the ground.”

With that, Luke swung his sword down towards her head. But it was a move with too much flare, and she was ready to block it by the time he got there. The blades clanged loudly, but she turned now, slipping past him and moving to try and get him from behind. As if reading her thoughts, he swung around, his blade nearly taking off the bun on top of her head as she jumped back. This time, she thrust forward, managing to hit the side of his armor before he went to disarm her. She yanked her arm back right as he tried to smack the base of her dagger and danced to the side, moving to smack her blade against the back of his knee. He grunted in pain, the two of them panting as they began to circle each other.

“You’re getting sloppy, old man.”

“Who you callin’ old?”

Luke went on the attack, stabbing, swiping, slicing. She parried or dodged all of them; she’d been training with this boy for the past five years, she knew how he operated. The more she danced out of his reach, the more frustrated, tired, and unfocused he got. She continued to move, waiting for the opportune moment that she knew was coming.

Finally, Luke went to slash at her and faltered as his left foot stumbled.

_Bingo._

Moving so fast the world blurred, she swung down, her blade slamming so hard into the base of Luke’s sword that it sent painful vibrations up his arm and then hit again from the side, knocking it out of his grip. He rushed forward to grab it, but she brought Storm back, pointing the tip directly underneath his chin.

“Gotcha.”

The crowd around them cheered, and she smiled, dropping the blade towards the ground and moving to shake Luke’s hand again.

“I’m going to beat you one of these days.” He told her, but even behind the playful grin, she knew her best friend. He hated losing, he meant what he said. Luke had a tendency to play a little dirty when it came to winning, he’d always been like that.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to watch my back then.” She shot back, and they both grinned at each other before Addie began taking off her armor. The sun was baking them, and as she passed Percy, she pointed to a water bottle. “Hand me that?”

The younger boy did, watching as she dumped the contents over her head. “You’re really good.”

“Yeah, well,” She shook some water out of her eyes, enjoying the way her body woke up and gained a second wind when the liquid made contact with her, “That’s what happens when you do nothing but train for ten years straight.”

“Yeah, Annabeth told me you’ve been here a while.”

Taking a few more deep breaths to let her heart rate come down, she turned, holding out the rest of the water bottle to him. “Here. It’s hot out here, so try to keep yourself cooled off.”

He looked surprised, then thanked her, dumping the rest of the water over his head.

Addie watched carefully and wasn’t disappointed. She saw his posture physically straighten, and he shifted his blade into a more comfortable grip. She saw his breathing calm down slightly, and the redness of his face faded.

“Come here, Percy!” Luke called out, then looked around at the end of the rest of the Hermes cabin. “Alright, everyone, circle up. If Percy doesn’t mind, I want to give you guys a little demo.”

She hung off to the side, watching the younger boy carefully. He looked… _better_. She knew it was the water, and she watched as his grip on the blade tightened, spreading his legs and steadying his stance as Luke gestured to him.

“This is difficult,” Luke stressed to the kids around her, “I’ve had it used on me before. No laughing at Percy now, most swordsman have to train for _years_ to master this technique.”

A camper to her left snickered, and she jostled him slightly with her elbow before looking back at the pair. Luke was showing them the maneuver in slow motion. Sure enough, Percy’s sword clattered to the ground loudly. But his green eyes were sharp and watching Luke’s movements like a hawk, like he had already learned the move. Finally, the blonde stepped back and gestured for Percy to pick up his sword.

“Now in real time. We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off.” Both boys faced each other, and Addie chewed on her thumbnail as they readied themselves.

“Go!”

Luke was still on the offensive, but Percy was already responding. He seemed to catch ever move before Luke pulled it, and he went thrust at him. The older boy blocked it, but there was so much force behind the move, he was knocked back a few steps.

She saw his eyes narrow in concentration and whooped loudly.

“Nice one, Percy, keep your guard up!”

The other campers began to cheer Luke on as the older boy rushed forward, but it was too late. Luke went for a slice at Percy’s legs, and the tween boy reacted. Jumping back, he struck his sword at the base of Luke’s and twisted, sending the blade straight to the ground with a loud and definitive _clang!_

Stunned silence covered the group, and Addie couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face when she saw the proud but shocked expression covering Percy’s.

“I-I’m sorry.” He apologized, but Luke’s face had split into a wide grin.

“Sorry? Why are you sorry? By the gods, Percy, show me that again!”

By the time Capture the Flag rolled around, Addie had been constantly watching the air over Percy’s head, just waiting for the trident symbol to appear. Her own claiming had been rough, and it had taken over six months since she arrived at the camp for Poseidon to finally and publicly admit he had a human daughter. The weather for the next two days following her claiming and leading up to her meeting with the Olympians had been so bad, all activities were suspended. The young woman could still remember all of the campers glaring at her as their foot races and volleyball games got rained out, as if it was her fault her father had no concept of birth control.

The game kicked off once everyone had eaten, and Addie was paired up with Athena. Not a usual pairing, but she normally teamed up with Hermes, and the largest cabin had bribed her with some extra candy and a six pack of Mountain Dew, so she caved. She could tell the children of the goddess weren’t pleased, but they also weren’t going to turn their nose up at an ally.

Her breastplate didn’t feet too well, but it was much better than the one she first used. The camp didn’t normally get such small children, so it had hung past her hips and made it hard to run. She’d face-planted with her helmet on and broken her nose, and it wouldn’t have been so bad if some Ares and Aphrodite kids hadn’t been watching. She’d been teased for weeks.

Once her helmet was on, she swung her blade in her hands, eyes roaming over the blue team. She saw Percy stumble with his shield, and she grimaced. Shields were no fun; personally, she hated them, but you had to know how to use them. Effective ones were heavy as shit, and ineffective ones were just pointless. It was a lose-lose situation. She saw Annabeth approach him and watched the pair carefully. The blonde was far from stupid, and Addie knew that. So, she couldn’t help but wonder if Annabeth had placed him beside the creek on border patrol for a reason.

She was also on border patrol, something that was always given to her whenever the border was the creek. Not only was she strongest there, but she could sense whenever a new presence entered the water. It was a rare skill, but it was still weak. She could barely use it on the creek, let alone on the lake. Anything bigger? Forget it.

But once the game started, and she stood there watching and waiting for Luke to grab the flag and come running back into their territory, she felt the bed of the creek and water on top it vibrate against her ankle.

Not only was there a new presence, but someone was bleeding.

She turned to look downstream, knowing that’s where Percy was. The thought occurred to her that it might be _him_ that was bleeding, and she pursed her lips, looking around and listening carefully. It was dead quiet except for the commotion downstream, slowly growing louder and louder. Finally, she turned and began walking.

_Might as well make sure the kid doesn’t get killed._

She heard the sound of multiple blades clashing, laughing, and taunting, and her eyes narrowed. Fingering her own dagger, she moved to burst through the shrubbery and into the fray.

But the battle she saw stopped her.

Percy was not only standing in the stream, but he was _demolishing_ anyone who got too close. Two Ares campers were already on the ground; one of them had his helmet knocked off and was out cold while the other shifted and groaned occasionally. That left Clarisse La Rue and one other cabin mate.

Clarisse was a powerful warrior for such a young girl, but then again, most Ares campers were like that. She had a small ego problem though, one that Addie had been all too happy to knock out when Clarisse tried to pick a fight with her a couple of years back.

But that was a story for another time.

At the sight of his fallen teammates, the camper beside Clarisse backed off, clearly not anxious to keep going. But the older girl had not learned her lesson. She shoved her spear forward with a shout, the electricity at the tip crackling dangerously.

But Percy was ready.

Jumping to the side, he brought his shield up and his sword down, catching the shaft between the two and bent it to the side as hard as he could. A loud _SNAP!_ vibrated through the air, and the beloved spear fell in two pieces into the water.

“You idiot!” Clarisse shrieked, her beady eyes dancing with absolute _fury._ “You corpse-breath worm!”

Percy just reached up and smacked her in the helmet with his shield, sending her straight to the ground.

Loud whoops caught the sibling’s attention, and Addie watched with a smirk as the Ares campers stood, realizing they’d been had.

“It’s a trick!” Clarisse cried, right as Luke came bursting across the creek, proudly holding up a red flag. The group staggered to their feet, but it was too late.

They’d already lost.

Chiron emerged from the woods, blowing a conch horn as the other hero’s gathered. The blue team cheered while the red team yanked off their helmets and threw them angrily at the ground. Addie took the opportunity to step into the water, alerting Percy that she was there.

“How long were you watching?” He asked, looking startled, and the older girl shrugged, happily removing her helmet as he did the same.

“I came to help, but you were doing just fine.”

“Yeah, not bad, hero.”

They both looked towards the new voice in time for the air to shimmer and move; Annabeth slowly materialized, lowering her Yankee’s baseball cap from her head.

“You set me up!” Percy accused angrily, and Addie’s eyes flickered to the water when it seemed to swish angrily, as if responding to his moods. “Both of you!”

“Hey!” She protested, holding up her hands. “I don’t do the planning, Percy, that’s not my thing. Look at your friend for that.”

“Gee, thanks, Addie.” Annabeth responded dryly, and Addie winked at her as the blonde turned back to Percy.

“I told you, Athena always has a plan.”

“Yeah, a plan to get my pulverized!”

As the two argued, Addie’s stomach tugged. _He looks so much like dad when he’s pissed,_ she thought off-handedly, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“Wait, what happened to your arm?”

Her focus was pulled back in time to see a long laceration on Percy’s bicep slowly fading to a scar. The dark-haired hero didn’t seem to notice why the two girls looked confused, and he nearly rolled his eyes.

“A sword cut, what’s it look like?”

“No, smartass,” Addie chimed in, “it _was_ a sword cut. Look.”

She pointed her blade at his arm, and he looked down just in time for the scar to fade, leaving completely unblemished, undamaged skin. He touched the area, then looked up at the both of them, eyes wide.

“I-I don’t get it.”

Addie sighed, closing her eyes. She should’ve known he couldn’t go too long without the truth, as much as she had wanted him to. “Step out of the water, Percy.” She instructed firmly, walking forward. She would need to catch him the second both his feet hit dry land.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

He did, and just as she predicted, his legs buckled and he was suddenly pitching forward. Already at his side, Addie caught him, feeling dread rise in her chest.

“Oh, Styx…” Annabeth cursed, “This is _not_ good…I didn’t want…I assumed it would be Zeus…”

_He’s healed within the presence of another camper; there’s no way dad can’t claim him now. His hand has been forced._

“It’s ok, Percy.” She reassured, helping him stand. “Look, it’s going to be ok, alright? You’re going to be ok.”

“What are you talking about-“

Before he could finish his question, a low growl ripped through the air. The hair on the back of Addie’s neck rose, and she turned, positioning herself in front of the injured boy with her blade ready.

The cheers had died instantly, and she heard Chiron’s voice, calling out in Ancient Greek. _“Stand ready! My bow!”_

Another loud growl, and slowly, out of the shadows, a figure emerged.

Two glowing, deep red eyes, fur black and thick as tar, and big enough to look Addie straight in the eyes.

A hellhound. And it looked right past her at Percy.

“Run!” She cried, moving to slash at it, but the damned thing was too fast. It dodged and used her as a springboard, jumping onto her back as its claws sliced her shoulder wide open. She heard Percy’s startled cry as she met the ground, and her heart jumped to her throat.

She jumped to her feet, eyes wild and ready to carve it like a turkey, but multiple, loud _thwacks!_ stopped her. A large cluster of arrows had sprung from its throat, and it swayed before finally falling over, dead.

Percy’s armor had been ripped apart like paper, and she could already see the blood bubbling out of the cuts. Rushing forward, she tried to pull him to his feet, swinging his arm around her good shoulder.

“To the water, _now._ ” She instructed firmly.

“That’s a hellhound, summoned straight from the fields of punishment.” Annabeth breathed, looking horrified. Chiron looked just as troubled, his face paling uncharacteristically.

“They don’t…they’re not supposed to…” The blond was clearly trying to make sense of it all, but Chiron shook his head.

“Someone summoned it.”

If the circumstance hadn’t been so dire, Addie would’ve rolled her eyes when she heard Clarisse’s voice. “Percy summoned it, it was Percy!”

“Be quiet child!”

“Chiron.” The centaur, and everyone else, looked over as Addie struggled to carry the younger boy. “Annabeth, someone help me get him to the water.”

“No, I-I’m fine-“

“No, you’re not. Chiron, watch this.” Annabeth told their trainer. Together, the two girls dragged him forward, his feet finally entering the creek bed.

Immediately, Addie felt the effects. A soft, cooling sensation tricked over her shoulder, and she sighed quietly in relief when she felt the cut, which had gone all the way to her bone, start to heal. But her eyes were on Percy as the blood flow in his chest completely stopped. Slowly, the cuts began to shrink, growing shorter and thinner until they turned into thin, white scars, and then disappeared completely.

A familiar green light began to glimmer, and Addie’s lips parted as Annabeth let go, stepping back to gawk at the symbol over his head.

A shimmering, green, trident; their father’s trident.

“Look, I-I don’t know why,” Percy started, clearly unable to see the symbol, “I’m sorry…”

“Percy.” Addie interrupted softly, firmly but gently taking his wrist. “Look.”

Confused, he looked above his head, and his mouth dropped open. His face seemed to pale, and he looked back at her as everyone slowly knelt. Addie did so as well as Chiron spoke, his voice grave, like he was announcing a eulogy.

“Poseidon. Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”

Percy moved into Cabin Three the next day.

Quietly but with as much support as she was capable of, Addie helped him move his things. He didn’t have a lot; his Minotaur horn, a spare change of clothes, and a bag of toiletries that Luke had clearly stolen from him. He had a lot of beds to choose from, and all good ones too, seeing as Addie had taken the bed way back in the far corner and closest to the window. She wasn’t hurt at all when he picked the bed farthest away; she’d seen that one coming before he’d even arrived.

She could tell he was not only in shock, but absolutely livid, too. He didn’t really speak to her, but as the now-official counselor of their cabin, she was in charge of their activities. So, seeing as he was her brother and she knew they kind of shared the same temper, she did to him what Chiron had done to her after she’d come back from that fateful meeting at Olympus all those years ago.

She ran him ragged.

Rock climbing, speed training, more sword and dagger fights than she was sure he even knew were possible; they did it all. And though he acted pissed about it, she could tell by the way he jumped straight into every activity that he was grateful for the distraction.

This kept up for several days, and by the third day, it finally happened. She was sitting on the beach, the early morning sun helping to dry off her skin after her surfing. Her board was in her lap, a half-eaten apple sitting beside her on the towel as she wiped the salt off of it.

“How long have you been surfing?”

Percy’s voice made her jump about five feet in the air, but once she saw that it was just her new younger sibling, she calmed down.

“About six years now.” She responded with a small smile, finishing her task. “I’ve been here longer than just about anybody else, and as I got older, all my friends were either dying or leaving camp to go off into the world.” She shrugged. “I needed something to keep my mind off things, and even though the waves here aren’t great, it’s good enough that I get some time in the ocean every day.”

He nodded slowly, moving to sit down on a blanket next to her. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, and once she was done, Addie reached into her bag and pulled out another apple, tossing it to him.

“Did you know?”

She looked over at him as she was swallowing her last bite to see him staring out into the surf. He turned to meet her eyes, his jaw tight.

“I was definitely suspicious.” She responded carefully, shifting into a more comfortable position. “You look just like him, especially when you’re angry. Let’s just say I was watching you carefully as soon as I knew your mother was the mortal.”

“You’ve met him?”

She could tell he was a little excited and trying to mask it. But she couldn’t stop the frown that tugged at her lips, her own jaw clenching as she remembered the booming voices around her, threatening death, as those sea green eyes simply watched her. Not arguing, not debating.

Not saying a single word.

“Yeah. Once.” She told him shortly, and he seemed to get the message. The pair stared out at the water together, both minds rushing with thoughts.

“Where’d you get that?”

She looked over to see him pointing to her necklace. It looked out of place in her green surfing bikini but seeing as it would always come back to her neck, she wasn’t worried about losing it.

“Dad gave it to me.” She told him, touch it lightly. “Its name is ‘Storm’. Very appropriate, but then again, he does kind of have a flare for the dramatic.” She smiled at him ruefully. “We all do; kind of a family curse.”

“Was that when you met him? When you first gave him the necklace?”

She felt her throat clench when she opened her mouth to tell him how she’d met their father, but stopped. She couldn’t tell him. She was forbidden from ever speaking of that day; Zeus would strike her dead on the spot. But she couldn’t lie, not to him. So, she shook her head, and told part of the truth.

“No, I met him not too long after I got claimed. A few days later, this was on my nightstand when I woke up.” She paused, chuckling as a memory surfaced. “Nearly took off my own ear; I had no idea how lightly you had to squeeze it to bring the blade up.”

“Was that your first lesson with a blade?”

“Alright, you little smartass…”

The two sat, joking and lightly bickering as the sun rose. Finally, Addie glanced at her watch and grimaced.

“Let’s get to breakfast; Chiron will rip me a new one if I start shirking on my new responsibilities now.”

After a successful day of training, it was time for bed. And for the first time, Percy responded, albeit somewhat tiredly, when she bid him goodnight. Soon, his breathing evened out and he was asleep.

For several more minutes, Addie lay awake, watching the stone-studded ceiling above them. She’d always had trouble sleeping for as long as she could remember and had a ritual of trying to count the stones as she fell asleep. Finally, she got somewhere around forty-two before she drifted off.

_The sky was dark when her eyes opened._

_Slowly, she sat up, feeling the sand brush against her skin as it fell off. She was in her favorite sundress, on her favorite spot at the surf. Far enough away from the Big House she got privacy, but still technically within the camp limits._

_Standing, a part of her was confused. When did she get here? Was she sleepwalking? She’d never done it before, so why was it starting now that she was nearly an adult?_

_“You’ve grown so much.”_

_The deep voice scared the hell out of her, and she was reaching for her necklace as she turned. But, unpleasantly, she realized her necklace was missing. Which would have worried her if she did not now know for certain that she was dreaming._

_“Hi, dad.”_

_Poseidon smiled gently at his daughter, watching as her muscles relaxed just barely when she realized he wasn’t a threat. He frowned, though, when he saw the tattoo on her shoulder._

_“I still don’t understand why you had to mark your skin with that.”_

_Addie rolled her eyes. “So, that’s why you want to talk? You want to lecture me on my tattoo’s and piercings?”_

_“Is that not what father’s do?”_

_“It’s a little late.”_

_The words were biting, harsh, and she felt the wind coming from the sea change. It dropped a few degrees in temperature, and she knew she should let up before she really pissed him off, but she couldn’t. She was just so_ angry; _he ignored her for over a decade after a near-death experience and had now condemned another child, a_ sibling _, to an existence similar to hers._

_She didn’t even want to stay, she wanted to wake up right then._

_“I know you’re unhappy with the turn of events-“_

_“I can’t believe you.” She whispered, arms folded over her chest, lips pulled into a furious grimace. “Do you have any idea what life you have given Percy? What you’ve cursed him with?”_

_“I am aware of the prophecy, Adrasteia.” He reminded her lowly, green eyes flashing. “I do not need lecturing from a mortal.”_

_“_ Half-mortal.” _She stressed, “Remember? Or did you erase your memories of my mother as well as my own?”_

_“I will not explain this again. That was for your own safety, and it remains that way.”_

_She scoffed, running a hand through her thick curls. “Well, I guess we both know how you feel about your children’s well-being.”_

_“Don’t you dare say that, you are my_ daughter- _“_

_“What do you want, dad?” She shot back, uninterested in hearing his father-daughter speech. He stopped, actually having the decency to looks surprised, and she shook her head. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. You claimed Percy within a few days of his arrival, even though you knew the risks, and now you’re talking to me. That means you need something, so please; let’s skip the pleasantries.”_

_He paused, looking like he wanted to bite back just as hard, then sighed. For half a second, he looked his age. The laugh lines around his eyes looked more pronounced, and he raised a tanned, calloused hand to run down his face. “Someone has stolen from your uncle.”_

_“And he blames you.” Addie finished, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve been noticing the weather changes.”_

_“This is serious, Adrasteia. At the Winter Solstice, someone took Zeus’s master bolt.”_

_Even in this dreamworld, the sky seemed to rumble at the title. Addie felt the hairs on her arms rise, as if feeling the electricity in the air, and her lips parted in shock before closing._

_“How?”_

_“No one knows for certain.” He shook his head, green eyes seeming to change shades, “But what he does know is that your brother was in the city, near Mount Olympus, when it disappeared. Had he not known of your whereabouts, you would have been his first suspect.”_

Yeah, we both know how many times a year he looks for an excuse to kill me, _she nearly quipped back, but held her tongue. It wouldn’t help, not now._

_“He thinks I used your brother, and he’s threatening war. I cannot ignore the call, Adrasteia, the bolt needs to be retrieved.”_

_Something dawned on her, and she slowly turned to look at her father, eyes narrowing._

_“That’s why you claimed him.” She whispered. Poseidon nodded solemnly, and she let out a scoffed, breathy laugh, raising her hands to push her hair back as her father spoke again, unable to believe what she’d just deduced._

_“If your brother does not succeed in his quest, the amount of deaths will be staggering-“_

_“And what about his?” She demanded, turning to glare at him. “What about his life? He’s twelve years old, he’s a_ child _-“_

_“So were you, if I recall.”_

_“Don’t.” The wind’s temperature dropped even further, and the Sea God watched as his eldest daughter’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Don’t you dare. You don’t get to ignore me for ten years and then bring that up. Not when you’re the one who condemned me to this life in the first place.”_

_“I have said my apologies.” He told her, voice hard. “I will not repeat them.”_

_“I don’t_ want _them!” She shot back, voice raising, then stopped. Sighing, she bit her lip, hanging her head. They sat in tense silence; she felt his eyes on her as she gathered herself again, studying her._

_“Why did you come to me?” She finally asked, raising her eyes to look at him again. “Why not Percy? He could use it, y’know. He really wants to meet you.”_

_“Be there for him, Adrasteia. He will struggle, but if he succeeds, millions will be spared. The Olympians have already begun to choose sides.”_

_Before she could respond, he stepped forward, the barest hint of a smile returning to his face. “Despite what you think, I do care for you, and your brother. Please, be careful. And be safe.”_

Her eyes shot open to a loud clap of thunder, and Addie found herself halfway up in bed, hand rising towards her necklace. Turning her head, she saw Percy was up, too, staring out the window as dark and angry clouds rolled overhead. Her throat closed up now that she knew the meaning.

But sharp, almost frantic pounding on the door interrupted her thoughts, and she jumped out of bed, motioning for Percy to stay as she crossed the room to fling it open.

Grover stood, pale as a sheet and trembling outside the door.

“Grover,” She greeted, confused, “What-“

“Mr. D wants to talk to you.” The satyr told Percy, voice warbling slightly. Addie beckoned him inside, slightly afraid the woodland creature was going to pass out.

“Why?” Percy asked, standing from his bed.

“He wants to kill- I mean, I better let him tell you.”

Both siblings swallowed, and Addie nodded at her brother, motioning for him to get dressed while she grabbed some jeans and a camp t-shirt before stepping into the small changing room at the back of the cabin.

The clouds were black, almost like ink, and were rolling straight towards the camp as the trio walked towards the Big House. Addie’s gut seemed to turn anxiously with every thunderclap, and Percy squinted at the sky.

“Are we going to need an umbrella?”

“No, it never rains here unless we want it to.” Grover responded automatically, but Addie didn’t respond, fiddling with her necklace as they walked. That wasn’t true, and Grover knew it. The weather after her claiming had looked like it came straight out of a disaster/survival movie.

“What the heck is that, then?” Percy pointed to the dark clouds closing in on them. 

“It’ll pass around us, bad weather always does.” The satyr tried to reassure them, but Addie remained silent, glaring at the sky.

At the Big House, Chiron and Mr. D both sat at the pinochle table; the camp director was in his traditional tiger print shirt and watery red eyes, but Addie knew better. Whenever she looked at him, she saw the giant god sitting on his throne, holding the power to destroy her. Maybe that was all she’d ever see.

“Well, well,” the god greeted dryly as they climbed the steps, “Our little celebrity.”

Addie could sense Percy’s hesitation, but put her hand on his shoulder and walked with him as Mr. D spoke.

“Come closer,” He beckoned the pair gruffly, “And don’t expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle Beard is your father. I didn’t do it with Andrea and I won’t do it with you.”

Addie rolled her eyes at his inability to get her name correctly as a net of lightning flashed across the clouds, thunder rumbling angrily. Mr. D rolled his eyes.

“Blah, blah, blah,” He waved off as the trio sat. Addie couldn’t help but be grateful they weren’t dealing her in, she was trash at pinocle.

“If I had it my way,” the god started as Percy sat down beside her, “I’d cause your molecules to erupt into flames. We’d sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm.”

“Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D.” Chiron reminded as he looked over his cards.

“Nonsense! Boy wouldn’t feel a thing!” Dionysus brushed off, “Nevertheless, I’ve agreed to restrain myself. I’m considering turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father.”

“Mr. D…”

“Oh, alright!” He finally relented at Chiron’s second warning. “Well, there is another option, but it’s deadly foolishness.”

_The quest dad was talking about._

Addie’s heartrate sped up as Dionysus stood, the playing cards on the table disappearing. “I’m off to Olympus for an emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I’ll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And, Perseus Jackson,” He met the eyes of the boy, “If you’re at all smart, you’ll see that’s a much more sensible option than what Chiron feels you must do.” Snapping his fingers, a playing card shifted and morphed, turning into a security pass. The air around him seemed to bend and morph, and then he was gone, with nothing but the smell of freshly pressed grapes lingering in the air.

“Tell me, Percy,” Chiron started, laying his cards on the table. _A winning hand,_ Addie noted dryly. “What did you think of the hellhound?”

Her younger brother paled, but swallowed and tried to sit up straighter in his chair. “It scared me. If you hadn’t shot it, I’d be dead.”

“You’ll face worse, Percy, far worse before you’re done.”

“Done? Done with what?”

“Why, your quest, of course.” The centaur explained, stern gaze leveling with Percy’s. “If you choose to accept it, that is.”

Addie saw Grover cross his fingers out of the corner of her eye, and she bit down on her fingernails, watching the younger boy carefully. A part of her wanted him to shoot the idea down right then and there, but another part of her knew better. Much better. The conflicting emotions made her head hurt, and it felt like the sky and sea; her head was at war with itself.

“Um, sir? You haven’t told me what it is yet?”

Chiron grimaced as another round of thunder rumbled across the sky. “Well, that’s the hard part, you see. The details.”

“More like lack of.” Addie couldn’t help but mutter, ignoring the stern look her teacher shot her way.

Hearing him attempt to explain what her brother must do was hard, harder than she expected. She did her best to keep quiet, listening to him tell the younger boy about the missing master bolt, when it was stolen, why he was the prime suspect. What hurt the most was Percy’s next question.

“Wait,” He interrupted, turning to her in confusion, “Why isn’t Addie a suspect, then? I mean,” He shook his head, “I’m not saying she did it, but doesn’t Zeus hate her, too?”

The girl in question snorted, reaching up to push a curl behind her ear. “Oh, yes. The Lord of the Sky can’t stand me, but I have an alibi. I was in Massachusetts when the bolt went missing, so even though he probably wants to, he can’t pin it on me.”

Thunder rolled again, and she got the strongest feeling the god was agreeing with her.

“But I didn’t do anything!” Percy protested, “I mean, Poseidon-our dad-he didn’t really steal the bolt, did he?”

Addie shook her head as Chiron continued. “Most would agree that thievery is not the sea god’s style.”

“But our father is prideful, Percy.” Addie picked up, looking at her brother with sad eyes. “There’s no way he’s going to try and take the effort to convince Zeus he hasn’t taken it.”

“Zeus wants the bolt returned on the Summer Solstice; that’s ten days away. Poseidon has demanded an apology from the same date. I’d hoped that diplomacy would prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would help the brothers to see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus’s temper. Now neither God will back down. Unless someone intervenes, I fear we’re heading for trouble. Do you know what a war between the gods would look like, Percy?”

“Um, bad?” The boy guessed, looking at his friend and sister as he answered. “Really bad?”

“Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Gods forced to choose between Poseidon and Zeus. Destruction, carnage, _millions_ dead. It would make the Trojan War look like a water balloon fight.”

Addie sighed and reached up to yank her hair from its bun, black and brown curls cascading down her back as Percy responded in a small voice.

“So, bad.”

“And you, Percy Jackson and Adrasteia Matthews, would be the first two to feel Zeus’s wrath.”

She felt the younger boy scoot closer to her, even the slightest inch, and she reached over, rubbing his shoulder as she placed a hand over her mouth, propping her elbow on the table as she watched Chiron.

“And you need me to return it?” Percy guessed.

“What better peace offering than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus’s property?”

Percy was quiet, and Addie couldn’t help herself. “Chiron, this is insane.” She all but growled, “If Zeus wants a child of Poseidon to return his damn bolt, _I’ll_ do it. He can’t possibly hate me more, anyway.”

“You and I both know you can’t, Adrasteia.” The centaur reminded her quietly. “You cannot set foot on Mt. Olympus, even holding such a valuable object. If Zeus did not throw you off, another god or goddess just might.”

Percy turned to her in shock and some slight horror, but she bit her lip and ignored his expression. She wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. He was right.

“It’s time you consulted the Oracle.” Chiron turned his attention back to Percy. “Upstairs, Percy Jackson. And once you’re done, assuming you’re still sane, you can come back down and we shall discuss it from there.”

The second her brother was up the stairs and out of hearing range, Addie ripped a hand through her hair, standing. “I can’t believe this.” She growled, pacing. Chiron watched her carefully while Grover continued to shoot scared glances at the sky.

“You cannot protect him from this, my dear.” He reminded her gently, but firmly. “You know that.”

“I could _help_ him, if the gods would just _let me_!” She cried, almost unable to hold back her scowl at the bolt of lightning that flashed across the sky. “I can’t-“

“You can, and you _must_.” The centaur told her sternly. “This is _his_ destiny, Adrasteia. Need I remind you of your own?”

The words made her lips seal shut, and she sighed angrily through her nose. Chiron’s face softened just a tad, and he beckoned her towards him, taking her hand when she got close enough. “I know you fear he will be treated the same as you, but I am promising you that I will do everything in my power to ensure that does not happen.”

“How, Chiron?” She demanded, feeling her anger and frustration bubble to the surface again. “Once he steps out of this camp, he’s alone! All he’ll have is Grover and one other camper, that’s it! Three children out in the world, filled with monsters, _alone_. I mean, remember what happened to Luke?”

“Then maybe it would help you to encourage him.” The words caught her off guard, and he gave her a wise smile. “I already see the way he looks up to you, my child. He sees you as an accomplished warrior, an adept child of a shared parent. Even though he is unsure, he wants to replicate your feelings of the gods, your determination and independence. Perhaps giving him some encouragement would instill some confidence before he leaves.”

Footsteps slowly got louder, coming from inside the house, and Addie sighed before turning and moving to return to her seat as Percy came back onto the porch. He looked at the two quizzically, like he sensed they’d been arguing, but neither of them said anything as he slumped into his chair.

“Well?”

“She says I’ll retrieve what was stolen.”

“That’s great!” Grover chimed in, taking an eager bite out of an empty Diet Coke can.

The Oracle was tricky, and there was almost always a double meaning behind everything she said. But that small part of the prophecy gave Addie a small prick of relief. He wouldn’t fail, which narrowed his chances of death.

“What did she say exactly?” Chiron inquired again, eyes narrowed. It would appear he was thinking the same thing.

“She said…I ‘shall go west and face the god who has returned, find what was stolen and see it safely returned’.” Percy recited, then stopped, cutting himself off at the end. Chiron’s eyes narrowed.

“Anything else?”

Percy shook his head, eyes downcast, “No. That’s it.”

_You’re a shit liar, Perc._ Addie thought wryly, but didn’t push it.

“Well,” She spoke up, reaching up to slap a hand on the table. “Let’s read into that. Which god lives out West?”

“What do you mean?” Percy asked, looking confused, and Chiron seemed to catch onto what she was insinuating.

“Think, Percy. If Poseidon and Zeus were to argue, who stands to win?”

“Someone who doesn’t like them very much?”

“Quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, someone who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago. Someone who’s kingdom would grow unbelievably powerful during a war between the gods.”

Something clicked behind Percy’s eyes, and he swallowed.

“Hades.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE thank you to everyone who left comments, I love that you guys are enjoying it! I already have the next few chapters written and published, so I'll be posting them soon.


	4. PARANOIA

There was no time to waste; Percy, Annabeth, and Grover had to leave immediately. That day, Addie and Grover managed to get a backpack, and Addie cashed in a favor with some Hermes campers to get the kids some extra toiletries and clothes from the camp store.

Right before they were about to leave, Addie was standing in front of the small table in Cabin Three, biting her lip and carefully tying the thin leather chord in her hands. The table was covered in leather chords, seashells, homemade clasps, and chains. It was strung through a cone shell, and two other bracelets on the table looked just like it. An identical one sat among the many hand-made piece of jewelry decorating her wrists. Cone shells represented protection, something that her little brother, best friend, and favorite satyr would all need very much. She cursed quietly in Ancient Greek when her finger slipped and the knot came undone, the shell almost sliding onto the floor.

Right as she was trying again, a pounding on the door nearly broke her concentration a second time. “Come in!” She shouted distractedly, and turned to see Luke opening the door, cocking his head at her.

“Hey, I thought you were going to see the kids off? They’re up on the hill with Chiron and Argus, they’re about to leave.”

“What?” She cried, then glanced at her watch and cursed again, louder this time. She’d completely lost track of time. “Ok, hang on!” She pursed her lips off to the side as she threaded the shell again, this time tying the knot as carefully as she could. Finally, it tightened; no way it could come undone now.

“Thanks, Luke!” She called over her shoulder as she grabbed the bracelets and jogged out of the cabin, Luke holding the door open as she turned and bolted towards the hill. She saw two figures on top, one a familiar centaur, and the other a much smaller, human boy.

“Percy!” She waved her hand, slowing down as she approached Chiron’s side. The young boy’s face lit up just a tad, and she smiled. “Sorry, I was getting something for you guys and I lost track of time.” She held up the bracelets, and his face dropped into confusion.

“Oh, um, thanks Addie…” He trailed off, clearly unsure of the gift but not wanting to hurt her feelings. She rolled her eyes.

“It’s a symbol, Perc.” She explained, amused, and grabbed his wrist, sliding the bracelet on. “The cone shell is often used to house small marine life; it symbolizes protection. And since it comes from dad’s kingdom, it can’t hurt to have it.”

“Do they actually work?” He asked, raising his hand to study it. She only held up her own, showing him hers that sat on a large array of other bracelets crafted from seashells.

“I’ve worn mine for nearly a decade now, and I’m still alive, so…” She just shook her head, smiling. “Just promise me you’ll leave it on.”

He nodded, actually looking somewhat touched. “Um, of course. Thanks, Addie. I’ll give Annabeth and Grover theirs, too.” He placed the bracelets in his pocket, and she saw the black pen in his pocket. Her eyes lit up, and she turned to Chiron, who was watching their interactions with a soft expression.

“You gave it to him?” 

The centaur nodded, and Percy looked up at her in surprise. “You knew about it?”

She nodded as Chiron responded. “I originally thought the pen was to be Adrasteia’s, since your father was the one who asked me to pass it on, but it would appear he had his own plans for her weapon.” All three of their gazes went to her necklace, which was shining in the sun.

A horn honked in the distance, and Addie glanced down the hill to see Argus sitting in the driver’s seat. “Ok, that’s your cue.” She told him hurriedly, moving forward a little. She hesitated, uncertain how he would react, before she pulled him into a quick hug.

He seemed surprised, but not as surprised as her when he returned it, albeit somewhat quickly. The two pulled away, and she smiled at him sadly.

“Look, Percy, I would go with you if I could. Hell, I’d go _for_ you.” She half-joked, then frowned. “But there are a lot of things at play that I can’t tell you about right now. Just…” She trailed off, then shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you another time.” Something else occurred to her, and she stepped forward. “Hey, why don’t I walk you to the van? Is that ok, Chiron?”

“It’s fine.” He waved them off, “I have an archery class I need to teach anyway.” But as he went to gallop down the hill, she caught the stern look he gave her. _Don’t say anything, Adrasteia, you know the rules._

As they walked, Addie turned to Percy, expression serious. “I know you’ll be going to the Underworld, Percy, and I know what you really want from there.”

The boy’s face paled, and he stuttered. “Well, um-“

She waved a hand, cutting him off. “Relax. I’m not going to lecture you; but just remember something. Hades is tricky, as all the gods are, and since he very well has the bolt, he may try to bargain with you.” She placed a hand on his arm, stopping them halfway down the hill, and turned to him, face somber. “Don’t listen. Don’t give in. Whatever he’s promising, there’s a catch. _Always._ Please remember that if you suddenly feel like you’re being given a choice that feels too easy.” She paused, then added, “And that goes with any of the gods.”

Percy looked somewhere between unsure and a little pissed at her advice, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he swallowed and nodded. She smiled at him.

“I know we didn’t get a whole lot of time to know each other. But I want you to promise me you’re going to fight to get yourself and the others back here safely, ok? I could give less of a fuck about the bolt.”

His eyes widened at her language, but then he nodded, and she saw the slightest crack in his exterior.

He was terrified.

She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. “Kick some monster ass for me, Perc. Show everyone what it means to be a child of the sea.”

And then he was gone, walking towards the van. She backed up a little, stepping safely over the line and standing by Thalia’s tree. She put a hand on it, watching the van drive off and resisting the urge to bite her nails.

“Please, father. Watch over him. Watch over all of them.”

The second Percy, Annabeth, and Grover left, it was a shitshow. It would appear that not only were the gods taking sides, but their children as well. Addie lost count of the amount of fights she and Luke were breaking up on a daily basis. She’d even had to tackle an Ares kid who was trying to club an Athena camper right in the head.

The weather was getting worse, too. She’d been teaching a swimming and water first-aid class when the lightning got horrible out of nowhere. She had to emergency evacuate everyone out of the lake in fear that a bolt would hit the water and electrocute everyone inside.

And that wasn’t the only weird thing.

Luke had been her best friend for half a decade. That meant she could read him like a book; as closed off as the guy was, she knew Luke had a nasty temper, and he also had a hard time forgiving.

So when she had to pull an angry, unclaimed camper off of him because he’d stopped the kid from shooting an arrow at a kind of snooty son of Aphrodite, the last thing she expected was for him to offer to walk the kid to the infirmary.

“You sure, Luke?” The dark-haired young woman asked, narrowing her eyes at his bloody nose and the other boy’s cut cheek. “I can take him and get some first-aid supplies for you while I’m there.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, Ads.” He brushed off, smiling warmly at her. “I’ll take care of him; he’s just a little pent up.”

She watched the two walk down to the infirmary, eyes narrowed, before shaking her head. Maybe it was the stress, and she was imagining things.

The kids had been gone for two days, now, and she hadn’t heard a word from them. From what she understood, neither had Chiron. That was odd, but she couldn’t call them. Calling someone on a quest was a pretty good way to get them killed, cause what if they were hiding from a monster and you gave away their position? It wasn’t even a what-if, but a genuine rule. A camper had gotten killed that way like seven years back.

So, in an effort to take her mind off of things, she headed back to cabin three. The sun was setting, and the clouds were spotty, so maybe she could get some decent waves in. The wind always made for good ones, anyway.

But what she found when she walked through the door was much, much better.

Her heart jumped when she saw the owl sitting on her windowsill. It was tall, regal; a very official bird, one she’d only ever seen when she went to MACUSA that one time on a field trip. The heavy, thick parchment tied to its leg made her hear speed up, and she walked forward quickly, dropping her stuff from the day onto her bed.

“Hey, handsome.” She cooed shakily, and the owl hooted impatiently, shaking his leg. Getting the message, she grabbed some coins and untied the letter before dumping them in the pouch on his leg. He hooted again and took off.

The parchment was yellowish, and much different than the ones that came from Ilvermorny. She held her breath at the writing; it was unfamiliar, but in emerald green ink and elegant, cursive letters.

_Ms. A. Matthews_

_Half-Blood Hill_

_Long Island South, New York_

_United States_

Everything else under that was blank, which was unsurprising. Thought magical letters tended to be very specifically addressed, the camp was shielded from that type of magic. Something she was really hoping her future employers wouldn’t be asking too many questions about.

Slowly, she turned it over, and there it was.

A wax seal with the famous _H_ inside of it, with the traditional crest above it. A snake, a lion, an eagle, and a badger.

Addie wanted to open it slowly, probably so she could look back on it and think of what an amazing and dramatic moment it was, but she couldn’t stop herself from nearly ripping the envelope open. Inside were two folded pieces of paper, and she rushed to unfold them, holding her breath.

_Ms. A. Matthews,_

_We at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are pleased to announce that we have accepted your application and credentials for becoming an assistant professor at our school. Attached to this letter I have included a list of things you will need for your new task of assisting both our Transfigurations Professor, Professor Minerva McGonogall, and our Potions Master, Professor Severus Snape. Both eagerly await your owl._

_Our year begins on the first of September, and we request that you respond to this letter no later than the twentieth of July, should you wish to accept the employment offer._

_May I express my own excitement at having an American witch and Ilvermorny graduate in our school; we here at Hogwarts are eager to learn of the customs and traditions taught at Ilvermorny, a great and beautiful institution._

_King regards,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

_Headmaster_

Addie could only sit down on her bed, clutching the letter in her hands as she slowly worked through the handwriting. Years of working with a personal tutor at Ilvermorny had really paid off.

She’d done it; she’d _actually done it._ She’d been accepted to teach. She felt her heart pick up, and a slow smile broke across her face. This was it! This was the start of her new life! She could travel somewhere the gods aren’t worshipped, she could create a life for herself! Meet someone, have a real family, _she could do it!_

Now grinning like an idiot, she hopped off her bed and dropped down, reaching under it. Feeling around, her fingers brushed across a familiar, glossy finish, and she grabbed the box. Pulling it out from under the bed, her eyes fell to the ornate design of Ilvermorny’s crest, burned into the wood, before she went to grab the lock-

-and stopped dead, her blood running cold.

The lock wasn’t on.

The intricate, delicate golden lock that had come with the box and been specially charmed right before her graduation day at Ilvermorny was hanging loosely off the clasp of the box, swinging, as if mocking her. She felt her muscles freeze when the thought solidified in her mind.

_I never leave the box unlocked. Someone has been in here._

Now panicking, she flung the lid open, revealing multiple letters, sealed documents, a set of Eagle Feather quills, and a smaller, longer box that held her wand. As her fingers brushed it, she felt the electric pull, the magic that ran up her arm and desperately wished she could open it and feel the instrument in her hand again, but she knew better. She wouldn’t live long enough to wave it.

Shuffling around, her panic increased when she realized not everything was accounted for. In fact, one very important thing was missing.

Her Ilvermorny acceptance letter.

She’d kept it; mostly to ensure no one found pieces of it lying around if she’d tried to dispose of it, but also because she was a sentimental person. A part of her hoped she could show it to her own children or students someday, show them the letter that had kept her going throughout all those years at camp.

But it wasn’t here. It was definitely gone, and that meant only one thing.

Someone had come into her cabin, unlocked the box, and taken it.

Without bothering to think about it any longer, she threw her new letter into the box and all but slammed it shut, clicking the lock with finality. She actually waited, watching as the gears inside whirred and clicked to show that it was, indeed, fully locked. Then, she picked it up and crossed the room, opening the door to the changing room. Crouching down, she shoved it under a loan bench and closed the door behind her, and all but ran to the Big House.

Pounding up the steps, she ignored the looks from a group of Apollo campers that were fiddling with their bows at the bottom of the steps, waiting for their daily archery class from Chiron. Running inside, she found him standing and moving to walk towards the door, Mr. D sitting behind him. They looked like they’d just finished talking.

“Chiron.” She spoke, voice nearly shaking, and moved to shut the door behind her.

“Adrasteia? What is it, child?”

She couldn’t speak, instead grabbing the curtains and flinging them closed, ensuring no one was watching them. She could practically feel Mr. D rolling his eyes.

“Goodness, Alyssa, what’s going on-?”

“Someone in this camp knows I’m a witch.”

Her words, hushed but desperate, stopped him dead. Both men (or, god and centaur, whatever) froze, eyes widening. She could see apprehension rising in Chiron’s expression, as much as he tried to school it, and anger rising in Dionysus’. The god stood.

“You were told to never tell _anyone-“_

“No, I didn’t!” She cried, then looked outside, lowering her voice. “I didn’t! I swear, ok! I have a box, it has all of my stuff that _anybody_ could use to guess about the Wizarding World, and it’s spelled shut! I’m the only one who can open it. But when I went to open it today, it had been unlocked by someone who wasn’t me, and my Ilvermorny acceptance letter was _missing._ ”

Chiron was staring at her, face tightening with worry, while Mr. D was narrowing his eyes. She felt irritation rise in her, and she straightened.

“I _never_ told anyone; you _know_ that, Lord Dionysus. Please, you have to believe me.”

“It’s alright, my dear.” Chiron attempted to sooth her, clopping forward. “We believe you.” His troubled look did not lift, though. “The Olympians must be informed of this. Any demigod who knows of the Wizarding World must be sworn to secrecy; if he or she tells anyone else, I’m afraid both sides would face grave consequences.”

The next day, Addie watched everyone around her carefully. She was half-waiting for one of the Hermes kids to run up and wave the letter in her face, laughing about how this letter was such a stupid prank, but that was a dream. It never happened.

No one was treating her any different, either. Aside from younger campers asking for help with sword fighting, canoeing, and swimming, nothing was out of the ordinary.

Her mind was occupied as she walked to the archery range, begrudgingly, anyway. Chiron still insisted that she have practice on it several times a week. It was useless, of course. After a decade of practice, she still sucked.

“Ow!”

She slammed into another body, stumbling back but managing to catch herself. The other person, though, was not so lucky. The younger boy fell back, crying out as he hit the ground rather hard. Addie winced, bending down.

“Shit, I’m sorry, dude.” She apologized, holding out a hand. The boy glared at her slightly but accepted the hand and she pulled him easily to his feet. “I was just lost in thought, that’s my bad.”

“No, it’s fine.” The boy grumbled, and that was when Addie recognized him; it was the kid that Luke had escorted to the infirmary after he tried to break his nose.

“Hey, I know you. Ethan, right?”

The kid raised his eyebrows, but nodded, extending his hand. “Yeah.”

“Nice to officially meet you; I’m Adrasteia.”

“Yeah, Cabin Three.” He chuckled, and she narrowed her eyes as he chuckled somewhat bitterly. “Trust me, I know.”

“Kinda weird, Ethan,” She noted flatly, “That I didn’t know your name for sure until now and you already seem to have a problem with me.”

The younger boy rolled his eyes, scoffing. “Yeah, well, why would some high-and-mighty daughter of the Big Three know who _I_ am? Shouldn’t you be off swimming with the fish or something?”

Addie’s expression dropped from confused and irritated to a dark, angry look. Stepping forward, she glowered at Ethan.

“You should watch your mouth, Ethan; someone might think you’re trying to start something.”

He scoffed again, moving to meet her gaze. “You think you can just walk around and threaten people just cause your daddy’s all big and powerful? Newsflash, princess, he doesn’t care about you anymore than my mom cares about me-“

_CRACK!_

Addie had started to turn around, not wanting to get into a fight, but at the mention of her father something snapped. Raising her right elbow, she turned and cracked it into Ethan’s nose as hard as she could.

The boy hit the ground like a sack of rocks and blood immediately started gushing from his nose. He cursed loudly, bringing his hand up to feel the hot liquid running down his face. At the sight of it, he snarled and jumped to his feet, his right fist going for her jaw.

She slipped under it fluidly, grabbing his wrist and twisting it. He grunted as it popped quietly and she shoved it back into his chest, successfully putting him on the ground again.

“I’m not gonna hold off just cause you’re younger than me, kid.” She growled lowly, muscles still tensed. But the kid still clearly hadn’t learned his lesson. If anything, getting knocked down again seemed to infuriate him even further.

“You little _bitch_ -!” He shouted, jumping to his feet, but before she could slam her foot into his chest a tall, blond blur jumped between them.

“Ethan, Ethan! Enough!” Luke shouted authoritatively, grabbing onto the boys flailing hands. “That’s enough, damn it!” He turned to see Addie watching them with narrowed eyes. “Ads, get out of here! You’re riling him up, go!”

Still fuming herself, she turned and left, storming off. Her blood was still running hot as she remembered Ethan’s words.

_I’d give anything to forget where the hell I’ve come from._

She finally ended up at the lake, walking down the pier, and stopped, placing her hands on her hips as she took several deep breaths.

After a few minutes, once her heart rate was back to normal, she shook her head. She felt bad about breaking the kids nose, but she didn’t take kindly to people speaking about her past that had no clue what she’d gone through. A familiar wave of fury went through her, but she tilted her head back, willing it down.

Finally, she turned and walked back. As she got closer to the infirmary, though, a familiar voice stopped her.

“Damn it, Ethan, I told you to lay low!”

_Luke?_

Slowing down, Addie turned her head towards the noise; it was coming from behind the infirmary. Now walking as quietly as she could, she stopped just around the corner, leaning against it.

“You’re going off on me? Did you see what she did to my nose?!”

That was Ethan; his voice wasn’t nasally anymore, meaning he’d probably been healed. She had to roll her eyes at his complaining. She’d done so much worse to people who picked fights with her before, and more importantly, the kid would be facing much worse throughout his life.

“Adrasteia’s been here even longer than me, she’s not someone you can just pick a fight with! Besides, I’ve already told you we need to lay low with her. She’s smart and paranoid as hell, if we both start acting weird, she’ll-“

_Snap!_

The small twig broke loudly underneath her foot, and she froze. Luke went silent almost immediately, and she heard shuffling.

Footsteps started towards her, and she panicked, turning and slipping behind the other side of the infirmary. She hid just as Luke’s blonde head came into view, but she didn’t bother to watch him. She turned on her heel and snuck off, ducking in between the cabins.

_What the hell was that?_

Addie nearly told Chiron about what she’d heard, but something stopped her. What _was_ she going to tell him? That Luke and Ethan had been whispering about her being paranoid after she broke Ethan’s nose? She had to admit, begrudgingly, that they weren’t wrong. She’d always been incredibly wary of every new person that came through camp, this wasn’t news to anyone. And though it had been a few years, it also wasn’t strange for her to beat the tar out of someone.

Of course, she liked to think that had mostly been a problem when she was still an angry little teenager.

But Luke’s behavior was bugging her. Something was just… _off_ about him lately. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but every time she looked at her best friend, it was starting to feel like she knew him less and less. At first, she’d chalked it up to drifting apart and busy schedules, but then again, they weren’t that busy. They still had time to be around each other.

So, what was it?

“Addie! Addie!”

Her thoughts were interrupted as she looked up from polishing Storm to see Abigail, an eight-year-old from the Hephaestus cabin, bouncing towards her.

“Percy called! He’s talking to Luke at the Big House!”

Immediately, Addie pulled at the sides of the hilt and felt the blade shrink into a long chain, looping it over her neck. Tugging on the girl’s braid and thanking her gently, she took off for the farmhouse, her heart in her throat.

_They’re all ok, they’re alive, they’re just calling to check in…_ She chanted over and over in her head, trying to make herself feel better as the Big House came into view. She saw Luke, talking to a misty rainbow where she could see a familiar face moving around.

“Luke! Hey!” She shouted, waving at him. He turned to see her, eyes widening, and then turned back to the misty image. But Percy was already fading and was gone before she got there.

Her steps slowed, and disappointment festered in her chest as Luke jogged towards her.

“Hey, I’m sorry, Ad.” He apologized, “I tried to keep him on, but their line was fading.”

“No, no,” She waved him off, trying to cover the disappointment on her face. “It’s cool, don’t worry about it, yeah?”

But as he walked away, Addie couldn’t help but narrow her eyes. Luke’s BS apology couldn’t fool her.

Because when she called for him, and Luke turned back around, he’d lifted his hand to swipe away the connection.

That night, she didn’t even need to count the stones. As she got ready for bed, she found herself feeling more and more tired, her eyelids growing heavy as she walked to her bed.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.

_The beach again._

_Addie nearly groaned in annoyance when she opened her eyes, immediately wanting to wake back up, but then stopped. Something was different._

_Sitting up, she realized it wasn’t sunrise like it had been last time. This time, it was sunset, and near the end too. It was almost completely dark. Standing, she realized she was in a dress that wasn’t hers. It was a toga, black, and silky. She ran her hands over the fabric, confused. What kind of dream was this?_

Hello, Adrasteia.

_The voice made her jump, and she whirled around, instinctively reaching for her neck. It was no use, though, she wasn’t wearing it in this dream._

No need to fear me, beautiful one. I am simply here to speak to you.

_“Who are you?” She cried, turning around in a circle. The voice chuckled, and it sent shivers down her spine. The sound was just so dark, like he was threatening her._

That’s not important right now. What’s important is your brother. Perseus, correct?

_Her heart dropped in her chest, and she froze, staring into the horizon. “Why? What do you know?”_

He’s being used as a pawn, Adrasteia. I know it, and you know it, too. Think about all the horrible things those Olympians did to you, said about you. You’ve lived in fear you entire life from the gods, and you did nothing. You were a child, my dear, when the Olympians wanted to execute you simply for _existing_. You can save your brother from a similar fate, you can help him.

_“Who are you?” She growled again. His words were hitting her harder than she wanted to admit, and they were also freaking her out. Who was this? A god? What god wouldn’t show themselves, they_ loved _being recognized._

Think about my words, Adrasteia. Think about a world without the gods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm curious, what do you think Addie's Ilvermorny house is? Her Hogwarts house? We'll learn later in the series but I want to know how you guys perceive her. I'm so glad you're loving the story, don't stop with the comments and the kudos cause they make my chest all fuzzy <3


	5. BETRAYAL AND BEGINNINGS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, all caught up! This marks the end of my pre-written chapters, so get ready for some bigger gaps between updates, sorry! I really hope you guys like this one!

Her quill in one hand, Addie chewed on her lower lip as she finished writing the address on the envelope. Two others sat in front of her, both addressed to different people. Once she was done, she lined them up in front of her, studying them. All three were going back to Hogwarts; one to the Transfigurations professor, one to the Potions Master, and the last to the Headmaster. Tugging on a loose curl with one hand, she raised the other to look at her watch.

It was the twenty-first of June; the Summer Solstice was here. And Percy, Annabeth, and Grover still weren’t back.

_What if something bad happened?_ She worried and looked out the window to the main area between the cabins as she pressed her lips together. Should she really leave if her brother had been injured? _Yeah, but if there’s a war brewing, not even the Wizarding World will be safe._ That was another good point, she agreed with the voice at the back of her head.

“I’ll send you when they return.” She muttered, mostly to herself, as she looked down at the letters. Grabbing them, she stuffed them into the box, double-checking that it locked again before stepping outside. The sun was beating down on the camp, the dog days of summer getting closer and closer. A trickle of sweat ran down her spine, and she shifted. Even with a tank top and cut-off shorts, the sun’s rays made her want to jump right into the lake.

“They’re back! They’re on the hill!”

The shouts stopped Addie cold, and she whirled around, feeling her heart jump when figures came over the crest of Half-Blood Hill. But her throat closed up when she only saw two; one with cloven hooves, and the other with long blonde hair.

_Where was Percy?_

“Annabeth, Grover!” She shouted, campers jumping out of her way as she ran forward; a small crowd had begun to form. Annabeth’s face lit up upon seeing her oldest friend, and the two ran forward, crushing into a hug. Once they were done, Grover received one too, his eyes popping out a little as the older girl squeezed him. Pulling back, she surveyed both of them for injuries, brown eyes brimming with anxiety.

“What happened? Where’s Percy?” She asked, almost afraid of the answer. However, Annabeth shook her head, eyes bright.

“He’s on his way to Mt. Olympus right now! We got the bolt back!”

The crowd around them erupted into cheers, campers hugging and jumping up and down, including some that had been rivals not too long ago. Relief washed over Addie like a wave, and she let her head fall back, running her hand through her hair.

“Thank the gods…” She muttered, but Annabeth and Grover stepped closer again, their expressions nervous.

“Addie, we _really_ need to talk to Chiron and Mr. D. The bolt, it- it wasn’t where we thought.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, pulling them aside from the celebrating crowd.

“Please, Addie, we’ll explain everything, but we really need to tell Chiron!”

“Ok, it’s ok.” She calmed them down, placing her hands on their shoulders, “Come on, I’ll take you.”

Up at the Big House, the centaur was very happy to learn that all three children had survived a trip to the Underworld. But upon seeing their expressions, he brought them inside, shutting the door. Addie asked to join, wanting to hear what had happened, and for whatever reason, she was allowed. Maybe it was because she was leaving and Dionysus was in a slightly better mood than usual.

Having to hear about her brother fighting the God of War was almost unbelievable, but Addie couldn’t swallow the proud smile that spread across her face. Holy shit, Percy beat _Ares_ in a sword fight. How _awesome_ was that?! And he’d followed her advice; when Hades offered him a deal for his mother, he’d made the right decision. With the return of his Helm, the Lord of the Dead would return the hostage he’d taken.

The three adults were still listening to the turn of events when Percy returned. They were just finishing their story about the trip to the water park when she heard the shout.

“Look, it’s Percy! He’s back!” 

Addie jumped from her seat, nearly running towards the door. Throwing it open, she saw Percy walking towards them, looking a little worse for wear. His shirt was singed, and bruises and cuts covered a lot of his skin. His thick black hair was a little matted, and his face was smudged with dirt from not showering.

But all she cared was that he was alive.

The crowd around them went quiet, their excited shouts and cheers slowing as Addie walked onto the porch. The siblings paused, staring at each other, before a blinding grin broke across Addie’s face and then she was running, racing down the steps towards her brother. He ran, too, and soon, they met in the middle and slammed into each other’s arms, clutching the other like a lifeline.

“You’re ok.” Addie whispered, holding the younger boy close. He was still small enough that he was shorter than her, and the thought made her heart clench. He was still just a kid. “You’re ok.” She whispered again, and she wasn’t sure who she was trying to comfort; Percy or herself.

He didn’t say anything, but when they finally pulled back, a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

“I got myself back.”

Addie sighed, shaking her head, before yanking him into a hug again.

The rest of the summer seemed to pass too quickly for Addie’s liking. Percy moved his stuff to the bed near hers, the two often staying up to talk and joke before going to sleep. Addie had told him about her job offer; not all of it, of course, just that she wanted to a be a teacher and had been offered a prestigious position at a boarding school overseas in Europe. She could tell he was disappointed and maybe a little afraid of her leaving, but she swore she’d write, and come back to visit whenever she got the chance. The two spent the rest of their summer laughing and training, and she taught Percy how to surf. He was a natural, of course, but not quite on parr with his big sister. Yet, anyway.

When the Fourth of July rolled around, they were spread out on a blanket with Annabeth, messing around as they snuck sips of the Mountain Dew Addie had smuggled in. It was then that Grover approached them, all packed for his trip to search for Pan.

Addie’s heart clenched as she watched the friends say goodbye. Grover was a great satyr, one that she believed in, but none had ever returned from the search for Pan. And she could tell it was worrying Percy and Annabeth, too.

Once Annabeth had become certain he was fully packed, Addie stepped forward, wrapping her arms around the satyr. The two shared a hug, and when they pulled back, she put her hands on his shoulders, staring down into his eyes.

“Thank you, Grover.” She whispered sincerely. “Thank you for watching over them.”

Grover nodded, eyes looking just a tad misty, before he turned and began walking off.

“Hey, Grover!”

At the sound of Percy’s shout, the satyr turned around again to see them smiling at him.

“Wherever you’re going, I hope they make good enchiladas.”

Grover smiled at them, standing a little straighter, before turning around and walking away. The trio watched him until he’d walked over the boundary, pausing by Thalia’s tree, and then he was gone.

“We’ll see him again.” Annabeth told them, but even she couldn’t hide the uncertainty in her voice.

They all sat, eyes on the sky, as the fireworks exploded around them. Famous children of the gods, founding fathers and ancient hero’s alike, seemed to fight and dance across the sky. Percy turned to her near the end.

“Bet they won’t have anything like this in Scotland.” He joked, and Addie laughed along with him, eyes returning to the sky.

“No, I don’t think they will.” She agreed softly, watching as Hercules defeated the Nemean Lion. Reaching over, she messed up his hair, a sad smile taking over her face as he laughed and shoved her hand away, moving to fix the thick black locks.

_I don’t think they will._

The summer flew by after that, way too fast for Addie’s liking. When the end of camp finally rolled around, her bags were almost completely packed. It felt strange to clean up everything in her cabin, her home for the last ten years. Ilvermorny had also been her home as well, but she found her heart aching when she thought about leaving here. Being completely by herself, not having a place to depend on when things failed. It was a little scary.

Percy seemed reluctant to say good-bye, too. He told her his mom had reserved a spot for him at some private school near their new apartment but understood if he wanted to stay year-round. The future teacher in her was horrified at the thought of him not having a solid education and spending all his time training, but she also knew her little brother didn’t do lectures. If she got on him, he’d rebel. The thought made her chuckle, though; he was just like her, and their father.

It wasn’t too long after their happy ending that they were hit with a curveball.

It was still early that morning; pale sunlight was lighting up the world as Addie paddled back to shore, muscles still aching slightly from her workout. She knew that training at Hogwarts would be scarce, and she also knew they were nowhere near an ocean. A part of her heart ached that she’d have to be land locked for so long.

Once she’d pulled a cover dress on and was walking back to her cabin, she saw him. Luke was stepping out of his own, sword clad in its sheath as he carried a bag over his shoulder. He looked like he was getting ready for some training.

“Off to hack some poor dummyies to death?” She teased, and Luke jumped, spinning around. Upon seeing her, his face relaxed, the scar looking even more prominent in the dawning sunlight.

“Hey, good morning, princess.” He greeted just as tauntingly, the two falling into step together as she accompanied him to the training area. “How were the waves this morning?”

“Great, like they usually are. I want to get as many in as I can, since I’m sure Scotland won’t be known for its great surf conditions.” She jokingly waved her pinky and thumb in a surfer’s gesture, and Luke chuckled, nodding.

“I still can’t believe you’re leaving; it doesn’t seem real.” He murmured, turning to face her. “I still remember when I first met you. You ran over,” He turned and pointed to the hill where she’d carried Annabeth over, “Grabbed Annabeth, turned to me and said, _‘If you don’t want to die, you should probably hurry the hell up and follow me’._ ”

Addie nodded, biting her lip. That had been a sad day, yet one of her happiest, if that made sense. It was the day she’d met the people she trusted with her life, where she got her real best friends.

“Yeah, it won’t be the same without you.” She told him, and he nodded. For the barest second, something flickered over his face, and he set his sword down, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“So, how do you feel about leaving? You excited to get away from this?” He asked, gesturing around them. Addie raised an eyebrow at him.

“I mean, I’m excited to start my career, but I’m not really excited to leave everyone, y’know? This has been my life for as long as I can remember.” She shrugged off, moving to open the door to the armory. The mountains of blades, bows and arrows, and even guns were glinting in the sliver of light coming from a closed window. She began to grab some straw dummies from the stack in the corner.

But Luke didn’t stop; he stepped further into the room behind her, face twitching slightly.

“What if you could leave here, leave the gods, but still be with your friends? You would still get to see me and Annabeth, and Percy?”

Addie paused in her movements and turned to cock her head at him, feeling something weird in her chest. Like that time a great white had been circling her surfboard before she’d told it off, (they were fun to play with, but a little too curious at times).

“What do you mean?”

“Well, come on, Addie,” Luke scoffed, taking another step forward, “I mean, are you really going to miss this place? After how your fathers ignored you?”

Addie dropped the dummy, turning around to glower at Luke. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Adrasteia.” His use of her first name, her full first name, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, “Look around you. He’s ignored you for, what, a decade? It took him _six months_ to claim you, and it only took Percy less than two weeks! Now he’s back from this big quest and suddenly he’s the favorite son! Don’t you think that’s messed up?”

“I’m nearly twenty years old, Luke,” Addie spat, feeling anger start to push its way up her chest. “I’ve accepted my father for what he is; I’m not going to blame my twelve-year-old brother.”

“It doesn’t piss you off?” He demanded, voice rising, “Not in the slightest?”

“No!”

“Not that he’s ashamed of you?”

“No-!”

“Or that he’s never fought for you?”

“No, Luke, what-?!”

“Or that he was going to just let the other Olympians execute you?”

“No, I’ve-!”

Her words died in her throat as Luke’s words sunk in, cutting into her brain like a knife. Her muscles froze, and her eyes went wide as she stared at him.

“Wait, what did you just say?”

The blond was panting slightly, face dark, but he tensed visibly at her question. His eyes flickered to the covered windows behind her, and then on either side of him. Addie took another step forward, apprehension crawling up her throat, as he turned and slowly walked towards the door.

“Luke, how did you know that?” She demanded, heart beginning to race. He ignored her, though, and reached up, sliding the bolt on the door shut. The sound of the lock sliding into place made her heart jump, and her fingers flew up to her necklace out of reflex. “Luke!”

He didn’t respond, only sighing, before turning around and pulling a familiar piece of paper out of his back pocket. Addie’s heart dropped.

Her missing Ilvermorny letter.

“You really shouldn’t leave your cabin door unlocked.”

It felt like she’d been punched in the gut; the air rushed from her lungs, and she stared at her oldest friend in horror, trying to remember how to breathe. Confusion and fury were raging in her head and chest, making it difficult to think clearly. Her skin felt hot, and her breathing picked up.

“How could-?”

“I’m sorry, Addie,” he told her, though his tone implied he was far from it, “but I didn’t believe my master when he told me about you. I wanted proof. So, when you ran to say goodbye to the kids when they first left, I took the opportunity to look around a little bit. I have to say, the lock you have on that box is pretty strong.”

“Master? Luke, what the f-?“

“I have to applaud you, actually. I mean, you can keep a secret and stay under the radar better than anyone I know, but _this_?” He waved the letter around, a wicked smile cracking his face. His scar made it look more threatening, almost like a snarl. “This is something else. To think you were keeping all of it a secret this whole time, and no one ever had the slightest clue.”

The confusion evaporated, and Storm was in her hand almost before she knew what she was doing. Her muscles were coiled, eyes blazing. Whatever Luke was doing, it wasn’t good, and she could feel the threat around her.

“Then you know the kind of danger you’ve put yourself in by discovering it.”

To her surprise, Luke only scoffed scornfully. “Oh, _please._ After all I’ve done, I don’t think discovering the Wizarding World will be what does me in. The gods couldn’t even stop a teenager from stealing a _thunderbolt_ , I doubt they’ll be able to punish me for this.”

His words hit her like a smack in the face, and for just a second, her stance faltered. Horror flooded her system, and she stared at him in shock.

“You…”

“You have to understand, Addie,” he told her, “I didn’t know that it would be _your_ brother. My master didn’t tell me what kind of hero would go, just that it wouldn’t be you. I thought for sure Zeus had fallen off the wagon again.”

She shook her head, face slack, almost unable to accept what was happening in front of her. “No, no, you…”

“I’m sorry to have to be so crass about it,” He told her carelessly, stuffing the letter back into his pocket, “but Percy was never supposed to come back. If he’d just worn those damned sneakers, then we’d be making this transition in a much smoother way.”

At the mention of his attempted attack on her brother, something snapped. The horror and disbelief evaporated, and she felt rage in her gut. Bubbling, churning, smoking. Leaking into her veins and coiling her muscles, her grip tightening on her dagger.

“You were going to get my little brother _killed._ ” She snarled, and Luke narrowed his eyebrows.

“Don’t do that, Ads. You’ve known the kid one _summer._ You’re so desperate not to be alone that you’d stand with some kid you barely know than you _best friend_!”

“Yeah, some best friend!” She shouted back, eyes blazing, “You snuck into my fucking _cabin,_ you went through my stuff behind my back; you tried to start a _war,_ Luke!”

“I’m not starting anything!” He snarled back at her, his own fingers moving to curl around the blade strapped to his hip. “This war has been a long time coming. The Olympians are _pathetic,_ they’re so convinced of their power that they treat everyone like trash, like they’re so much better! How many mortals have suffered because of them, hm? How many lives of the humanity they claim to have created have been _destroyed_ over petty feuds and envy between the gods? All the children they’ve had have been doomed from the beginning, and they don’t even care!”

“If this is about what happened with your father, Luke-“

“Don’t you dare mention him!” Luke suddenly roared, the fury in his voice so intense she nearly jumped. “You want to talk about dead beat dads, Addie? How about yours? You think you know what Poseidon has doomed you to when it comes to your life, but you have _no idea._ If you could see what the Fates have in store for you, if you could see your destiny, you’d be _begging_ my lord to help you.”

“I’d sooner cut off my own fucking hands than beg you or him for anything.” She growled back, then raised her blade. “And what would you know about my destiny?”

“Oh, not much.” He taunted, shaking his head, “But my master? Oh, my master knows _all of it._ The gods do too. Or have you ever bothered to wonder why children between Olympians and wizards are forbidden?”

His words cut deeper than she cared to admit; she _had_ wondered why. It was obvious she was powerful, more powerful than any regular demigod or witch, but nothing extraordinary had happened in her life yet that gave her pause and made her realize _why_ her existence was such a mistake.

But she wasn’t going to admit that; not to him, not right now.

“Your master, the one that had you steal the bolt?” She asked, “The one that convinced Ares to side with you? Which master would that be, huh?”

“You know who it is-“

“Yeah, and that’s even _more_ pathetic.” She snarled, “You’re convinced that your rage, your suffering is so different and special that Kronos could _never_ manipulate you. That’s what he does, Luke!”

As soon as his name passed her lips, things seemed to go dark. The rising sun wasn’t so bright anymore, and the covered windows seemed to block out air as well as light. Luke’s darkened, as well.

“I would’ve thought you of all people would know to be careful with names.”

“And I would have thought you, of all people, would know better than to let your emotions drive you.”

“My emotions _are not_ driving me.” He growled, “Kronos is right; the Olympians are a plague.” He paused, then shook his head, sighing. “Look, it’s clear that you’re not ready for this. He warned me you wouldn’t be, but don’t worry. Once you start teaching at that new school of yours, once you start learning about this world that you’re a part of, you’ll come crawling back.”

Addie raised her dagger, sliding her foot back into the correct stance. “You’re dreaming if you think I’ll let you walk out of here.”

But Luke didn’t look the least bit concerned. “I know. That’s why I planned ahead.”

She barely had time to be confused before pain exploded across the back of her head, and then it was black.

Something cold was on her fingertips; it felt nice in the heat. Addie groaned as a faint bolt of pain throbbed across her head, and she shifted, feeling something rough against her bare shoulders and legs. Her whole body hurt, like she’d been hit by a truck, and she felt a little nauseous. The more she woke up, the more the pain began to fade.

_What-what’s going on…_

She struggled to force her eyes open and winced when she did. A bright light made her shut them again before slowly allowing them to open, adjusting to the light.

She was outside, laying on her back, staring at the cloudless blue sky. As she shifted again, the young woman realized the rough surface she was laying on was wood; she was at the lake, laying on the docks with one hand dangling in the water. A soft groan pushed past her lips again, and she raised her wrist, eyes struggling to focus on her watch.

_One in the afternoon? Did I fall asleep? How did I get-_

Then it hit her.

The events from before slammed into her with full force, and her heat jolted. She bolted upright, the water on her skin from the lake helping clear away the fuzzy pain in her head as it healed her.

_Luke, the armory, the letter!_

Addie jumped to her feet, bolting towards the Big House. Who the hell knew what Luke had done while she was out, she needed to warn Chiron and Mr. D _immediately._

“Clarisse!”

The girl turned from where she was talking to some of her siblings, sneering at her when she approached. “Oh, look who it is-“

“Shut up, Clarisse.” Addie cut off harshly. The girl obeyed, mostly due to their age difference. “Where the hell is Chiron? This is important.”

But the Ares camper only shrugged, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him all day, actually.”

“What about Luke? Where is he?”

“For Zeus’s sake, fish stick, I don’t know, ok? I saw him and that wimp brother of yours walking into the woods earlier-“

It felt like Addie had just fallen from a long height and landed right on her back; the air whooshed out of her lungs, and she stared in horror at the girl in front of her. “When? How long ago?” She demanded, stalking forward to grab the teens shoulder.

“Like five minutes, alright? What-“ 

But the daughter of Poseidon didn’t give her a chance to finish asking. Turning on her heel, she took off for the woods, her heart in her throat. Percy was alone with the traitor, the one who had attempted to have him brought to Kronos on a silver platter, the one who was going to _kill him._

She had no idea where in the woods they were, and as she went deeper, she stopped in front of nymph.

“Have you seen Percy and Luke?”

The nymph only nodded and looked down the creek, the one that they’d been playing Capture the Flag at not even a few months ago. Addie took off again, watching the water for vibrations or waves that would tell her that someone was there. But Luke was too smart, and she knew that. He wouldn’t go into she and Percy’s territory on purpose.

As she ran, a flash of blonde hair caught her eyes, and she reached up, fingers closing around her necklace as she neared the clearing.

“Goodbye, Percy. There’s a new Golden Age coming. You won’t be a part of it.”

Luke slashed his sword through the air, creating a golden arch, and moved to walk through it. Addie reacted before she thought.

_“Luke!”_

She flung the dagger forward, the blade glinting in the sunlight, but Luke was already through the portal. He disappeared right as the blade pierced the air where his back had been and slammed into a tree, the force of her throw burying it almost to the hilt and causing it to vibrate.

At the same time, something black slashed through the air towards her, but Percy lunged, slicing it in half. Her eyes landed on two halves of a pit scorpion, the light still glinting slightly in its beady little eyes as it disintegrated into dust.

“Percy…” She started, turning towards him, but her words got stuck in her throat when he collapsed. “Percy!”

She ran forward, crouching over him. He groaned, shifting, and her eyes landed on his hand. It was swelling rapidly, the skin reddening and growing hot as white pus seeped from a hole in the back of it.

It got him.

“No, Percy, hey!” She tried, shaking him, but the light in his eyes was fading, the green orbs falling closed. Her stomach dropped, and she snatched him up, throwing his arm over her shoulder. She began walking forward, pulling him with her, but when his legs failed, she didn’t hesitate. Bending down, she grabbed under his knees and rushed forward, holding the younger boy closer. After all her training, he wasn’t that heavy.

“Help! Please, someone! Help! Chiron!”

As she neared the edge of camp, several nymphs walked from their trees and saw her. They didn’t say anything before running forwards, beating her to camp. Percy was growing paler and paler as the sound of a horn blowing pierced the air, and Chiron galloped towards her.

“Adrasteia, what-“ 

“It was a pit scorpion, it got his hand! Please, Chiron, help him!”

Percy was out for a full day; Chiron had assured her and Annabeth that was completely normal. Still, the two stayed by his bedside, enjoying the comfort of the other’s presence as their friend and brother recovered. Addie couldn’t help but notice how attached Annabeth had gotten to Percy after their quest, and vice versa. But this wasn’t really the time to tease them about that. She also knew that the blonde was supposed to be going home with her father soon, but refused to leave until Percy woke up.

Finally, around noon the next day, the dark-haired boy stirred. Annabeth immediately brought the cup of nectar near him and put the straw to his lips, allowing him to drink. Halfway through the glass, his eyes cracked open and surveyed the group. Addie on his right, Annabeth on his left, Chiron at the foot of the bed, and Argus standing guard in the corner.

“Here we are again.”

Addie snorted but ran a hand over her face as Annabeth spoke. “You were green and turning gray when Addie finally got you to us. If it weren’t for Chiron’s healing…”

“Now, now,” the trainer spoke up from his spot in his wheelchair, “Percy’s constitution deserves some credit.” As he shifted, Addie didn’t miss the bags under his eyes; she had them too. After sending Annabeth to catch some sleep, the two adults had stayed by Percy’s bed, wide awake, all night.

“How are you feeling, Percy?”

“Like my insides were frozen, then microwaved.” Her younger brother groaned, shifting into a sitting position. He wasn’t very successful, and Addie moved to help him.

“Don’t use your hand, Perc, you’ll aggravate it.” She scolded, but he only smirked and looked back at the rest of the group.

“Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom.” Chiron concluded, but his face was dark. “Adrasteia told us of Luke’s betrayal, Percy. Why don’t you tell us what happened before she found you?”

The events were enough to make the older girls blood boil even further; after knocking her out without a fight, he trapped her younger brother with a pit scorpion. The actions were so cowardly and backstabbing that Addie wanted to pick up the chair she was sitting in and throw it out the window. But she only took a deep breath, willing her temper down as Percy finished explaining. This wasn’t the time, nor the place.

After he finished, it was practically silent. Annabeth was practically shaking in her seat, running her hands through her hair over and over again.

“I can’t believe that Luke…” She trailed off, then stood from her seat, pacing as her face tightened with anger. “Yes, yes I can believe it. May the gods curse him, he hasn’t been the same since his quest.”

Addie said nothing; she was almost too ashamed to speak. Percy was here because she hadn’t stopped Luke. Her younger brother had nearly died twice, and what had she done? Oh, that’s right, _nothing._ She was often applauded as one of the most skilled hero’s at camp, and yet she hadn’t been able to stop a threat that literally handed themselves over, it was _pathetic._

“This must be reported to Olympus,” Chiron murmured, “I shall go at once.”

“Luke is out there.” Addie recognized the tone in her brother’s voice immediately, “I have to go after him.”

“You can’t even stand on your own, Percy.” She chided, and Chiron backed her up.

“No, Percy, the gods-“

“Won’t even _talk_ about Kronos; Zeus declared the matter closed!” He protested, and the mention of the Lord of the Sky made Addie cast a glance at the ceiling.

“I know this is hard, but you must not rush for vengeance. You aren’t ready.” Chiron reminded him, and a thoughtful look passed over the boy’s face.

“Chiron, your prophecy from the Oracle…it was about Kronos, wasn’t it? Was I in it? Was Annabeth?”

Chiron looked uncomfortable, and Percy looked at Addie. “Was Addie?”

“No,” the trainer denied, “I can tell you for certain that Adrasteia’s fate lies elsewhere.”

She could tell that made her brother feel a little better, but those words did nothing for her own anxiety. Her fate in the Wizarding World was starting to worry her, even just a little.

“What was it about?”

“Percy,” Chiron looked uncomfortably at the ceiling, “It isn’t my place…”

“You’ve been ordered not to talk about it, haven’t you?”

The centaur gave the boy a sympathetic smile. “You will be great hero, child. And I will do my best to prepare you. But if I’m right about the path ahead of you-“

His words were cut off by a loud, harsh clap of thunder, and he threw his hands up in frustration.

“Alright, fine!” He cried, then turned back to Percy, sighing in frustration. “The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing.”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing-“

“And we won’t.” Addie cut him off, reaching forward to put her hand on his shoulder. “But running in headfirst is a good way to ensure someone gets hurt, or worse. Please, Percy, just listen to us.” She paused, biting her lip. “I can’t let you get hurt again.”

“Your sister is right,” Chiron back her up, “Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently; your time will come.”

“Assuming I live that long.”

Addie reached over and pinched his shoulder, not enjoying the joke he was making. The possibility of Percy dying before the age of eighteen was much higher than he even realized.

“You’ll have to trust me, Percy.” Chiron told him, placing a hand on his ankle. “You will live. But first, you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice, but you must decide to whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and become a summer camper. Think on it. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision.”

Percy clearly wanted to protest, but Chiron didn’t give him a chance.

“Argus will watch over you. Oh, and my dear,” He turned to Annabeth, “Whenever you’re ready, they’re here.”

The young girl’s face went slack with fear, and Addie shifted so that she was sitting closer to the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. Annabeth turned to her, but Addie only smiled warmly.

“Who’s here?” Percy asked as Chiron wheeled himself out, but Annabeth didn’t answer, studying the ice in the drink. Addie kept quiet, as well, seeing as it wasn’t her place to say anything.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Annabeth responded quietly, setting the empty glass down. “I just followed your advice about something. You, um, need anything?”

“Yeah, help me get outside.”

“Percy…”

But protesting didn’t do much good. Knowing that arguing with him was pointless, the two girls swung each of his arms around them and helped him limp out onto the porch. The sun was shining as the warm summer air slowly cooled into the fall months; the temperature had already begun to drop from the high nineties into the low eighties. Persephone would be joining Hades in the Underworld within the next few weeks or so.

Percy told them of his uncertainty to stay, mentioning that he would miss Annabeth. At this, the blonde pursed her lips.

“I’m going home for the school year, Percy.”

The green-eyed boy turned to her in shock.

“Really? To your dads?”

Annabeth looked towards the hill, by Thalia’s tree, and the siblings turned to see four silhouettes standing there. A man, holding a backpack, a woman around his age, and two young children.

“That took guts.” Percy told his friend, looking a little proud, and Addie reached over to brush a piece of hair over Annabeth’s shoulder.

“Yeah, well, that’s our Wise Girl.” She told the two warmly, and Annabeth smiled sadly at her.

“You won’t try anything stupid during the school year, will you?” She demanded, eyes flickering towards Addie. “At least, not without me or Addie there to help you.”

“I won’t go looking for trouble.” Percy told her with a mischievous smile. “I usually don’t have to.”

His older sister had to roll her eyes at that, but Annabeth still looked unsure.

“When I get back next summer, we’ll hunt down Luke. We’ll ask for a quest, and even if we don’t get one, we’ll sneak off, ok?”

“Sounds like a plan worth of Athena.”

She turned towards Addie, and the older girl felt sadness welling inside of her.

“You’re really not going to be here when I come back next summer?”

Addie shook her head, eyes beginning to sting. “No, I’ll have to get some type of apartment over in Europe, since I don’t want to have to travel between countries more than I have to. The gods won’t allow me to move back into camp, you know that.”

Annabeth nodded, eyes looking a little shiny. “Ok, well, um, you’ll do great, you know? You’ve taught so many of us, and you taught me a lot…” She trailed off, voice warbling. “They’ll be really lucky to have you.”

Addie nodded, feeling her throat close, and then the two surged forward, wrapping their arms around each other. The younger girl had gotten tall enough that she was only a few inches below her older friend.

“You’ll be amazing.” She reassured the blonde, squeezing her tightly. “And you can write to me whenever you want. Just, um,” She paused, pressing her lips together. “Don’t freak out when the mail shows up, ok? It might not be very…traditional.”

Annabeth looked a little confused when they pulled away but nodded. Addie looked over at Percy, who was watching the exchange. “Look after him for me, ok? He needs supervision.”

“Hey!”

The two girls laughed at him, and Annabeth hugged the girl one more time.

“Thank you, Addie. Thanks for everything.”

The two pulled back, and she turned to Percy, sticking out her hand. “Take care, Seaweed Brain.”

“You know I will, Wise Girl.”

And then she was gone, walking up the hill. The two siblings stood shoulder to shoulder, keeping their eyes on their friend as she turned around to wave on final time, and then she was gone.

“You want me to help you pack?” Addie finally asked him, smiling in amusement at his surprise. “I can tell you want to go to school, Percy, and as a teacher in training, may I just say that I whole-heartedly approve of that decision.”

“Oh, great, now I get a nagging older sister to remind me to do my homework.”

“Ok, smartass, maybe if you just did the homework when you _got it…_ ”

That next week, it was time for Addie to go. Hogwarts’ school year started the next day, and she’d be taking the train to the school with the rest of the students. That meant she had to go to the MACUSA building in New York so she could floo to Britain, since there was no way in Hades she’d be going on a plane.

“Don’t worry,” She reassured Percy as he helped her load her stuff into the camp shuttle, “You can write to me any time you want; like I told Annabeth, the first time you get a letter from me, don’t panic, ok?”

Her younger brother snorted, “After everything I’ve seen this summer, I doubt it’ll be a shock.”

Addie smirked at that but didn’t push it, he’d find out what she meant soon enough. Her eyes fell to the polished wooden box in the front seat, and her stomach churned in excitement at the thought of getting to hold her wand again. It had been almost a year.

“Do you get to go home for Christmas?”

His question made her turn back, eyebrows raised. “Yeah; I haven’t told them I’d be leaving for the break, but I’m sure it would be ok.”

“No Thanksgiving, though, right? Cause I know Europe doesn’t celebrate that.”

She shook her head, watching him carefully. He was thinking about saying something, she could tell. Finally, he spoke.

“Would you want to spend Christmas with me and my mom?”

Needless to say, she was a little floored. Stuttering, she shook her head. “Um, Perc, I’m not sure how your mom would feel about that…”

“No, she’s fine!” He reassured, eyes bright. “She’s super cool, trust me! And she’d love you!”

_Yeah, I’m just the other child of the father of her child from another woman. No biggie._ Addie bit her lip, not wanting to crush the hopeful look on Percy’s face. It would be her first holiday without any friends or family around…

“Ok.” She finally agreed, smiling at the grin that split Percy’s face. “Ok, I’ll ask them about coming home. I can write you the details when they tell me.”

Percy whooped, and she laughed as he finished loading her large suitcase into the van. There were multiple bags, something that would change once she got to MACUSA; she’d be shrinking everything into one suitcase.

Finally, Argus was tapping the eye on his wrist to let her know that it was time to leave. Chiron had come down to meet the two, watching the set of siblings warmly.

“Be careful, ok?” She reminded him, “I’m serious. We have no idea where Luke is, and your scent is powerful. Just, please watch out for yourself.”

Percy rolled his eyes, smiling proudly. “I’ve got Riptide, I’ll be ok. Plus, I survived this summer, didn’t I?”

Addie nodded, smiling sadly, but pulled the younger boy into a hug. The two sat there for just a few seconds, reluctant to let go, before Percy pulled back. She could tell his eyes were a little misty, but he blinked them away quickly, clearing his throat.

“Um, I’ll see you at Christmas, ok? And me and Annabeth will write you all the time, I promise.”

Addie nodded, reaching out to mess with his hair. He shouted and shoved her hands away as she turned to Chiron.

The centaur looked so sad that it nearly broke her heart. Walking forward, he pulled her into a hug; though, it was a little awkward since her face was in his stomach. “Be safe, my child. I’m sorry you cannot stay longer, but Zeus…”

“I know.” She cut him off, shaking her head as they pulled apart. The truth was, she wasn’t angry, or sad. Not anymore. She knew her life, and what was expected. She had to forge her own path. “Don’t worry about me, Chiron, I’m your best student.”

But he still looked very worried; scared, even. “Adrasteia, you should know…there are somethings that your father and I have, um, _shielded_ you from when it comes to your life outside of here. Please remember your training here, and your,” he looked over at Percy and lowered his voice, “ _other_ training, alright?”

She nodded, ignoring the confused look on her younger brother’s face. Then, Chiron smiled proudly.

“You will be an amazing teacher, Adrasteia. I have full confidence in you.”

It was time to go; Addie’s stomach churned as she hugged Chiron and Percy one final time and hopped into the front seat. As she did, Percy held up his wrist, showing the shell bracelet.

“You’ve still got yours?”

She nodded, showing him hers. She’d taken off most of her jewelry to store it, but the cone shell stayed on always. “Promise me you’ll never take it off.”

“I promise.”

As the van pulled away, Addie stuck her head out the window and waved goodbye, not stopping until they rounded the bend and were gone. Sitting back, she rolled up the window and leaned her head on the seat as the woods flew by. Her box sat in her lap, and every time her fingers brushed across it, she could feel the magic from her wand.

_This is it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to cast your vote for Addie's romantic interest, there is a poll on my quotev account, go check it out! I'm under the same username there, and I would post the link, but I'm having some computer troubles. See you next time!


	6. THE CASTLE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter for you! Addie is finally at Hogwarts, ahhh! Also, much thanks to all who have commented and who have voted! Remember to cast your vote if you want your opinion to be considered, cause as cool as it would be, I'm not a mind reader.   
> And now, onward!  
> Addie's No-Maj outfit:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/505388389411115170/  
> Addie's Robes: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/505388389440592949/

The first thing Addie did when she was back into the Wizarding World was pull out her wand.

Larch wood, 12 ¾ with dragon heartstring core and supple flexibility. The second it was in her hand, warmth and electricity ran straight through her fingers, up her arm and into her body, and a weight seemed to lift off her chest.

It felt like coming home.

She’d spent the night in a No-Maj hotel in London, since she didn’t really have too many galleons to spare. Having to transfer her American money to British pounds and then to Wizarding currency was a process that made her head, and she wanted to avoid the process until it was necessary.

Now, with all her bags shrunk down into a single suitcase and clad in some regular No-Maj clothes for the train, the young woman paused in front of the mirror in her hotel room, taking a deep breath.

This was it. This was the beginning of the rest of her life. It was so exciting and terrifying all at once, like when you were approaching a big wave. You couldn’t be too sure if you’d succeed or fall or wipe out, but you did know that you were in for one hell of a ride.

With that thought, Addie adjusted a few of her curls one more time before grabbing her suitcase and walking out the door, black handbag dangling on her elbow.

The train station was crowded, and she scowled as several men bumped into her from behind. She was already on edge, eyes constantly searching for a possible monster. It had been a few years since she’d been outside of the camp on her own, and she was just a tad rusty.

“Ok, platform nine and three quarters…” She muttered to herself, then shook her head. What was that? The ticket that Dumbledore had sent to her was in large, clear print; the platform number was unmistakable. Brown eyes raised to the two platforms with a frown, looking around her. Oh great, she wasn’t even at the school and she was already lost.

As she turned back to return to the standing map again and pray she spotted something on it, she stumbled upon realizing a small, dark-haired boy had been walking behind her. She halted, reflexes kicking in as she avoided running the poor kid over.

He wasn’t so lucky, though; his shoes caught on his pant leg, which looked much too large for him, and he stumbled, knocking his suitcase and owl cage off the cart.

Wait.

“Woah, you alright, little dude?” She asked, bending down to help him up and grab his stuff. The boy looked up at her through messy black locks and circular glasses. His ears were bright red, and he nodded, rushing to pick up the cage. The owl inside, a gorgeous white bird, was screeching loudly in protest at the sudden, jarring movement.

“Er, yes, I’m fine.” He reassured in a small voice, and Addie resisted the urge to laugh at his British accent. She still wasn’t used to it, and it sounded so cute with kids.

“Here, let me help you here.” She told him, helping him adjust the trunk and cage into the cart again. “There you go. Now,” She cocked her head at him, “What are you doing with an owl in the train station?”

“Oh, er, I was…” He trailed off, clearly thinking hard about an excuse, but Addie just held up her own ticket.

“Trying to find platform nine and three quarters?”

The boy’s eyes, which were an incredibly bright shade of green, went comically wide. He stared at her ticket in her hand and the back at her, looking shocked. “Oh, you’re a-a,” He looked around them, voice dropping to whisper, “Are you a witch?”

“Yep.” She whispered back, winking. “Don’t worry, I’m lost, too.” She reassured at a normal volume, and they both looked around them as if trying to spot anymore clues. Addie turned back to the kid, studying him for a beat, then sticking out her hand. “I’m Addie, by the way, Addie Matthews.”

“Harry, Harry Potter.” He introduced quickly, shaking the hand, but the girl’s lips were parting in shock.

That’s right! They’d learned in school at her very last year that the Boy Who Lived would be old enough to start school soon in just a few years; she hadn’t bothered to think about the fact that he’d been born in Europe.

Wow, so she’d be teaching the Chosen One.

“Nice to meet you, Harry Potter.” She told him, letting her hand fall. She opened her mouth to speak again, but a woman’s voice interrupted her.

“It’s the same every year, _packed_ with muggles, of course…”

Muggles was the British term for No-Maj! She turned to Harry, matching his expression.

“Sounds like she knows where she’s going.” She told him, grabbing her suitcase and leading the boy towards the voice.

The woman was roughly in her mid-to-late thirties, with bright red hair and colorful clothes. Surrounding her was a parade of children, all with the same hair color. They all had on similar looking clothes, bright and appearing to be handmade. There were four boys and one little girl; she was clutching the woman’s hand and appeared to be the only one not carrying a suitcase.

“Now, what’s the platform number?” The woman asked.

“Nine and three quarters.” The little girl answered, then tugged on her mother’s hand. “Oh, mum, can’t I go-“

“You’re not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. Alright, Percy, you go first.”

The oldest boy adjusted his things and marched forward, chest puffed out. He readied himself in front of the large pillar that separated platforms nine and ten-

-and then he was running.

As he neared the wall, Addie’s eyes bulged and her mouth opened, ready to try and stop him in hopes of preventing an injury, but her words died in her throat when he went _right through the wall_.

She turned to Harry, and he simultaneously turned to her, mouths hanging open.

“Fred, you’re next.” The woman turned to the set of twins, motioning to the one closest to her.

“I’m not Fred, I’m George!” The twin cried, moving to push his cart in place. “Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother. Can’t you tell _I’m_ George?”

_I don’t know how hell she’d be able to, I can’t even tell._ Addie thought off-handedly, and the woman shook her head.

“Oh, I’m sorry, George, dear.”

The boy paused and turned back to his mother. “Only joking, I am Fred!” And then he was gone, disappearing through the wall again. His brother followed, cackling.

“Here, let’s ask her.” Addie reassured Harry, leading them forward. “Um, excuse me!” She called, approaching the woman. “Hi, I was just wondering if you knew…”

“How to get onto the platform?” The woman said kindly, then nodded. “Yes, dear. First time at Hogwarts?” She asked Harry, putting her hand on her fourth son’s shoulder. “Ron here is new, as well.” The ginger nodded, looking a little red in the face as he brief eye contact with Addie. She smiled, and he quickly averted his eyes, ears blazing.

“Not to worry,” the woman continued, “All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don’t stop and don’t be scared you’ll crash into it, that’s very important. Best to do it at a bit of run if you’re nervous. Go on, now, before Ron.”

“Er, ok.” Harry agreed, casting a nervous glance in Addie’s direction. She nodded encouragingly, masking her disbelief. Was she going to have to administer first-aid if the poor kid busted his head open?

But to her infinite surprise, Harry ran straight at the wall and then _through_ the wall. One second he was there, and the next he wasn’t. Ron got his car ready, and then flew forward, following him.

“Are you a student, dear?” The woman’s voice brought Addie back to reality, and she turned to see the red-headed woman looking at her quizzically. “Have you never taken the train before?”

“Oh, no,” Addie told her, shaking her head, “I’m actually going to be an assistant professor at the school.” She stuck her hand out, wanting to make sure the parent of some children she’d be teaching knew she could be trusted. “Adrasteia Matthews.”

“Well, how lovely to meet you, dear!” The woman exclaimed, shaking her hand and smiling warmly. “I hope you don’t mind, but where are you from? Is that an American accent?”

“Yes, it is. I’m from New York; Long Island South, to be specific.”

“Well, how wonderful! I don’t think we’ve ever had an American professor before! I’m Molly Weasley, and this here is Ginny; she’ll be starting Hogwarts next year.” Molly gestured to the tiny redhead next to her, who was shyly looking up at the older women. Addie smiled kindly and bent down slightly, bringing herself closer to eye level with the little girl.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Ginny.” Addie told her kindly, reaching out a hand. The little girl shook it, smiling back.

“Oh, dear, we should go!” Molly suddenly cried, looking at the clock. “The train leaves in ten minutes.”

Going through the wall was strange, but as soon as Addie had passed through, she stopped. Her lips parted in wonder, a slow smile spreading across her face.

It was magnificent, the train. And this was coming from someone who’d been to Mount Olympus before. The train was long, longer than she’d ever really seen before, and a deep scarlet color. _Hogwarts Express_ was printed at the very front. The cars were quickly being filled, and she quickly rushed through the crowd, moving to put up her suitcase.

Molly was now fussing over her children and preparing them for the train, and Harry was nowhere in sight. Hoping he had gotten safely onto the train, Addie adjusted her bag on the crook of her arm and moved to step onto the train.

Then stopped.

A cold feeling crept up her spine, and her hand flew up to her neck, fiddling with the point of her shark tooth. Turning, she searched for the eyes she knew she’d felt on her.

And she found them.

A man, roughly in his mid-thirties, was watching her. He was standing tall, chest puffed out, and dressed all in black. A snobby look held on his face, and he was looking down his nose at many of the students and families that walked by. His hair was the most prominent thing; white-blonde and running past his shoulders. Next to him, a woman with dark blonde hair was adjusting the robes of a young boy that looked almost exactly like the man. She guessed it was his wife and son.

His gray eyes were watching her, narrowed, and she met his gaze with the same expression. There was something about the way he was looking at her, like he knew her. And seemed a little surprised. As she made eye contact, he merely nodded his head and shifted, turning his attention back to his small family.

_Wonderful, I’m already dealing with creepy dads and I haven’t even started teaching yet._ Addie thought wryly, but she also knew that wasn’t it. He hadn’t been staring at her in a perverted way it was just… _weird._

The sound of the trains horn blowing made her jump, bringing her out of her thoughts, and she turned to walk onto the train. She wouldn’t be dealing with him at the school anyway.

Most of the compartments were full, but she managed to find an empty one near the back. Her instructions from Dumbledore told her to meet up with Rubeus Hagrid, the grounds keeper, once the train stopped. Apparently, he’d be there to greet her and the first-year students upon arrival, and she’d take a carriage up to the school. Settling back into her seat, she reached into her bag and pulled out her book, _Odyssey,_ written in Greek. She normally avoided the modern Greek language, despite knowing how to speak and read it at a conversational level, but it was a long journey and she wasn’t going to put herself through the headache of reading English until she had to. There would be a whole school year of that.

Somewhere around halfway through the journey, she decided it was time to change into her robes. The bathroom was a little cramped, but Addie was able to levitate most of her things. She couldn’t help but smile at her wand. She’d missed the feeling of magic flowing through it, of making her life easier, of embracing the second part of her life.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, a loud croaking sound halted her and she paused, slowly looking down.

Sitting at her feet was a little toad.

“Well, hello there,” She cooed, bending down to scoop it up. The amphibian croaked again, sounding happy, and shifted to a more comfortable feeling in her hands. She smirked as she stroked his little head. “I’m assuming you could feel me enter the train, huh?”

He croaked again, and though she couldn’t speak to fresh-water animals, she could read their emotions. He was happy she was here, and upon feeling her enter the train, had gone searching for her.

“Come on, buddy.” She told him, walking back towards her compartment. “We’ll find your owner when the train stops; they’re probably worried about you.”

When the pulled into the station, Addie adjusted her robes as the toad watched her, blinking. She’d gone with the nicest set she owned; midnight blue, a fake black corset around the middle, and her trusty thigh-high boots. She also kept Storm on her neck, as she always did, and added her camp necklace. It clashed slightly with her outfit, but she didn’t care. It was practically a choker on her now, clad in ten little clay beads, and she ran her fingers over the green one. A small trident was imprinted in it, and a stab of homesickness hit her.

Shaking it off, she turned back to the toad and held out her arms. “Well?”

He croaked.

“Yeah, well, what do you know?” She muttered, then grabbed him and her bag. It was time to go.

The sun had set as they approached the castle, and Addie couldn’t help but shiver. Scotland’s weather was so much colder than she was used too, especially up in the mountains. She’d already resigned herself to the lack of sunshine.

The crowd began to shuffle forward, but a loud, gruff voice caught her attention as she looked over the heads of the students.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years, this way! Alright there, Harry?” 

Following the voice, a relieved smile broke across her face when she spotted the man; impossibly tall and wide, with a scruffy beard and long hair. Walking forward, she noticed Ron and Harry turn her way as her heels clicked loudly against the pavement.

“Excuse me, Hagrid?” She asked, and he turned to her, beaming.

“Yes, that’d be me!” He cried jovially, sticking his hand out. “Rubeus Hagrid, miss, an’ you must be Adrasteia Matthews, am I righ’?”

“Yes, that’s me.” She nodded, smiling. “Um, could you point me-?”

“Trevor!”

A small voice cut her off, and then small, chubby boy ran forward, eyes glued on the toad in her hands. “Trevor, I’ve been looking everywhere!”

“Oh, so this little guy is yours, huh?” Addie asked, and his eyes moved to her face as if just realizing she was there. He went beet red and shuffled, eyes flickering to the ground.

“Er, yes’m.” He responded quietly, and she smiled warmly.

“Here,” she held the toad out, “Make sure he gets some water, ok? Looks a little dry.”

The boy snatched the toad back gratefully, holding him tight. “Thank you, miss!”

Turning back to Hagrid, she nodded at the larger group of students walking towards a large train of carriages some ways off. “Would that be where I go to get to the castle?”

“Sure is, Professor Matthews. Professor Dumbledore will be there to welcome you.”

Nodding her thanks, she turned and began walking off towards the carriages.

_Professor Matthews,_ she thought, smiling a little. _Now that has a nice ring to it._

But she slowed as she approached the carriages, surprised. Instead of horses, like she’d been expecting, the animals pulling the carts were something else entirely. They looked like horses, but skeletally thin with thick, gray skin. No fur, and no manes, with seemingly empty holes for eyes.

“Alright, pick a carriage, not many left!” A voice called, and Addie snapped out of her trance, climbing into the first empty one she saw. To her relief, no students joined, but she could feel their curious eyes watching her as the convoy slowly moved up the hill. As they neared, Addie’s mouth dropped open in wonder.

It was a castle, like Ilvermorny, and the grandness of it all took her breath away. It was much older than the American school, that much she knew, but seeing it now truly pointed out just how long the ancient building had been standing.

_Annabeth would lose her mind over this architecture._

Once the carriages stopped just outside the courtyard, she climbed down, keeping her shoulders back and her head high. Walking forward, she stepped through the doors-

-and right into another person.

A small, surprised cry left her lips as she crashed into another person’s chest but was able to stay upright. The person she’d run into, a man, backed up several steps, brushing off his all black robes. Now that she saw him, she realized _everything_ about him was dark. He had black hair, black robes, and even black eyes.

And those eyes were glaring at her.

“I’m sorry-“ She started to apologize, but his agitated voice cut her off.

“And why are you not in the Great Hall?”

The demeaning sound of his tone stopped her dead, and she cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes.

“Excuse me?”

“Students are to arrive in their school robes and go directly to the Great Hall; do you believe yourself to be above the rules?” He asked again, cocking an eyebrow. He looked so unimpressed by her presence that Addie actually found her fingers twitching towards her necklace. Who the hell did this guy think he _was?_

“Well, I don’t know how I’d be able to do that seeing as I don’t have school robes and I’m not a student.” She bit back, shifting her weight into one hip. The stranger’s other eyebrow raised, and he surveyed her again.

“And just who might you be?”

“Ah, Miss Matthews!”

Right as she opened her mouth to announce herself and simultaneously tell this man to go fuck himself, a jovial greeting interrupted her.

Walking towards them was every No-Maj’s idea of a wizard. An older man, with a sweeping silver beard and equally long silver hair, clad in swishing robes of dark blue and covered in stars. His pointed hat matched his outfit, and his eyes sparkled with warmth and kindness as he approached.

“How lovely to meet you, I am the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.” He reached out and took her hand, shaking it. Addie fought down her surprise that someone so old and delicate looking had such a firm grip. “And I see you’ve met your first Professor! Adrasteia Matthews, may I introduce our Potions Master, Professor Severus Snape!”

As brown eyes met black eyes, the young girl barely managed to keep her thought to herself.

_You’ve got to be kidding._

Dumbledore was easily the nicest and simultaneously the most intimidating mortal Addie had ever met. He was incredibly kind, smiling and happy to see her and answering all her questions, but she could practically _feel_ the power radiating off of him. After Snape had ground out a greeting, he’d swept off, vaguely reminding Addie of a bat. It was then that the Headmaster lead her towards the Great Hall.

“Professor Snape is also the head of the Slytherin House.” He was explaining, “And your other Professor, Minerva McGonogall, is head of the Gryffindor House. I’m sure you’ve been in close contact with them throughout the summer?”

“Yes, they’ve sent me their lesson plans.” Addie explained, suppressing her exclamation that Snape was a much bigger asshole than she expected, and was praying to any god that would listen, (which wasn’t a lot) that Professor McGonogall was at least a little more pleasant.

“Wonderful!” They neared a small door, and he opened it, gesturing her through.

For the second time that night, the demigoddess was unable to stop her jaw from nearly hitting the floor.

The Great Hall wasn’t just great; that was the understatement of the year. It was _huge_ , with four long tables in front of them. They were on some type of platform with two long tables set with plates, goblets, and silverware, while a podium stood at the very front. The room was lit by torches, but the ceiling was easily the best part. It didn’t appear to be a ceiling at all, but the night sky, complete with stars, constellations, a moon, and even some planets. It seemed to stretch on and on, with no end in sight.

She wryly wondered if Zeus would still find a way to shoot her down if she tried to go up too high towards it as Dumbledore directed her towards a seat, shaking her hand and sincerely welcoming her again before taking his place at the largest chair at the table.

“Well, I must say, I wasn’t expecting my teaching aide to be so young.”

Addie turned to glare at Snape as he sat beside her, his eyes on the crowd of students in front of him.

“Are you always so rude to people you just met?” She asked pointedly, also turning her eyes forward. The first years were being led through the large double doors, and at the front, a strict-looking woman with jet-black hair tied in a bun at the back of her head, clad in emerald green robes.

_That must be Professor McGonogall._

“Only witches and wizards who behave insubordinately.”

At the word _insubordinately,_ Addie’s jaw twitched. “Well, seeing as you’re not in a position of power over me like you are over ninety percent of the inhabitants of this school, then we might be just fine.”

“Perfectly fine.

“Great.”

Their short dismissals of each other was cut off when McGonogall placed a ratty, worn wizard’s hat on a short wooden stool in front of the head table. Addie leaned forward, confused, but nearly jumped when the hat began to _sing._

_"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_if you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folks use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!”_

The whole hall burst into applause at the end, and Addie followed them, amazed. She could feel Snape watching her through narrowed eyes but did her best to ignore him. More teachers had since joined the head table, including a teacher not much younger than Snape on her other side, clad in a strange purple turban.

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.” McGonogall instructed, and Addie raised an eyebrow.

“You use a hat here?” She whispered, and Snape looked at her out of his peripherals.

“Of course. How do the _Americans_ do it?”

His pronunciation of _Americans_ made Addie’s blood boil again, and she scowled at him. “Differently.” She responded shortly, before facing forwards again. She could feel the teacher next to her shifting, as if wanting to look at her, but every time he started to he would suddenly whimper and his head would turn the other way.

One by one, the students were called up to the stool. At Ilvermorny, you were presented with four carvings of each house. Whatever carving reacted to you was the house you belonged in. It was mostly a short process, but this time, each student varied. Some took several minutes, and some, like the young blond boy she’d seen at the train station, (who she now knew was named Draco Malfoy) were sorted almost before the hat had touched their head. He went into Slytherin. The boy who Addie had returned the toad to, (Neville Longbottom) went into Gryffindor.

Ron Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor as well, which she couldn’t help but notice was where both of his twin brothers and older brother were also sorted. It made her wonder if Percy would be sorted into the same house as she was if he were to go to Ilvermorny. Then again, he was a lot more impulsive than she had been when she was younger, and much more extroverted and dependent on the friends and people around him than herself.

_“Potter, Harry!”_

The name made everyone sit up in their chairs, murmurs and whispers spreading across the hall. Surprisingly, she also felt Snape shift just slightly in his chair next to her, making her wonder how he knew him. It was clear he recognized the boy, at least to some degree.

The longer the boy sat with the hat on his head, the more impatient the room seemed to get. He sat almost rigidly still, occasionally shaking his head or murmuring something, but it was too quiet to hear him properly. Finally, the hat spoke.

“Better be… _GRYFFINDOR!”_

Addie applauded politely with the rest of the school, the sorting finishing up with a few more children. Once Blaise, Zabini had been sorted into Slytherin, Dumbledore stood, approaching the podium as McGonogall returned the stool and hat off to the side.

“Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would just like to say a few words: Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak! Thank you!”

His words were met with a round of applause, and though Addie was thoroughly confused, she followed as well. Looking back down at her plate, she barely concealed a gasp.

Food was already appearing in front of them. Roast beef, roast chicken, potatoes, lamb and pork chops, peas, gravy, ketchup, carrots, and even some things she had never seen before. She could only guess they were traditional Scottish or other European foods. She fought to contain her hunger as the feasting began, loading her plate with a little bit of everything.

It wasn’t that she’d been starved, Camp Half-Blood fed their hero’s well. But that was just it; they were eating to train and to go on quests, meaning their food was always health conscious, especially because it was prepared by the nymphs. That meant very lean meats, lots of fruits and vegetables, and very little desserts. And any drink you requested was usually some sugar-less version. So the sight of all of this fulfilling food had her almost giddy.

“H-hello.”

The trembling, quiet voice pulled her attention away from the mashed potatoes and turned to see the teacher in the turban, his eyes seeming to go everywhere but her face.

“Y-you m-m-must be the n-new a-assistant professor.” He stuttered, sticking out a trembling hand. “I-I-I’m P-professor Quirinus Quirrell, I-I teach D-D-Defense Against t-the D-Dark Arts.”

“Oh, well, it’s wonderful to meet you!” Addie introduced kindly, waiting patiently for him to finish. She knew that, in her time as a teacher, she would meet all sorts of students, with all sorts of personalities and setbacks. It required a certain level of patience, one that she was proud to say her time at camp had instilled in her whether she liked it or not.

“Assistant Professor Adrasteia Matthews.” She told him, reaching out to shake his hand.

But something strange happened.

As soon as their skin made contact, a sharp sensation went through her fingers and up her arm. It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t pleasant either. If she had to choose a describing word, she would pick _startling._ Like that time she’d touched a live wire in the Hephaestus cabin and nearly had to be revived with CPR.

The sensation caused her to jump back slightly, and Professor Quirrell appeared to do the same. Once they’d separated, he was staring at her in shock, eyes wide.

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what that was.” She started to apologize, then stopped upon seeing his face. “Are you ok?”

“O-Oh, yes, d-d-don’t worry too m-much a-about it.” He reassured, but a familiar, drawling voice cut him off.

“Do you have your lessons plans for the year, Quirrell?” Snape asked, sipping from his goblet. Quirrell seemed to grow even paler as Snape spoke, and shifted, reaching up to sip his own drink with trembling hands.

“W-why y-yes Severus, I-I-I have constructed q-quite the…”

The three spoke for several more minutes, but Addie’s eyes were drawn to the Gryffindor table. Harry was sitting there, and he was rubbing his forehead, eyes narrowed at Snape. Once she met his gaze, he paused and dropped his hand, then smiled at her. She smiled back slightly, raising her goblet before taking a drink.

Once the feast was over and dessert had disappeared, Dumbledore stood again. The loud chattering among the students halted almost immediately, and Addie couldn’t help but notice the power he seemed to hold over a room just by standing tall in it. It was inspiring.

“Just a few more words, now that we’re all fed and watered. I have both news and a few start of term notices to give you.” He turned to gesture a hand at Addie. “First, may we give a wonderful Hogwarts welcome to our newest member of the staff, Assistant Professor Adrasteia Matthews.”

The students all applauded as Addie rose from her seat and waved once, nodding in thanks at the applause. She wasn’t blind, however, and noticed how quite a few of the older boys were elbowing each other and laughing, no doubt making remarks and jokes about her appearance and age. Mortal, Wizard, or demigod, teenage boys never changed.

“She will be assisting Professor Snape in Potions and Professor McGonogall in Transfiguration and has come to us from the United States where she graduated from the esteemed Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I know that you will all treat her with the respect and chivalry of any other professor at this school.” He told them sternly, and the students all applauded again, causing Addie to smile before sitting down again.

“Now, first years should note that forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.” He seemed to look towards the Gryffindor table, where the Weasley twins were chuckling and elbowing each other.

“I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interest in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch.

“And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.”

Some of the students seemed to laugh, as if thinking he was kidding, but Addie’s face was solemn. Dumbledore had told her in one of his letters that he would be telling her, in person, some of the special circumstances the school was facing that year. It involved the guarding of a very special artifact.

“And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!” He cried and gave a wave of his wand. A silky ribbon shot out of the end of it and twisted and danced in the air, finally settling into several lines of verses.

“Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!”

_“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald,_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling,_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot!”_

While Addie didn’t join in, (she was no child of Apollo, her voice could kill a bird) she couldn’t help but laugh a little at how invested some of the students became. Snape also did not join; however, he didn’t look as amused by the window-shattering sounds that were thundering through the hall.

Once the song was finally finished, Dumbledore reached up to wipe a tear from his eye. “Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here. And now, bedtime! Off you trot!”

The prefects at each table stood and began beckoning the students forward. Addie stood as well, and was met with a new person.

“Miss Matthews!” A Scottish accent caused her to turn to see McGonogall walking briskly towards her, smiling politely. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t meet you, it’s my job as Deputy Headmistress to welcome the first years.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Addie waved off, sticking out her hand. “It’s so wonderful to meet you, Professor McGonogall.”

“Oh, just Minerva, dear.” The older woman scoffed, “I would like to formally welcome you. I see you’ve already met Severus?”

“Yes, I-“ Addie’s sentence was cut short when she turned to see the man in question stalking off, once again reminding her of a bat.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” Minerva told her, “He’s like that with everyone, you’ll get used to him. Now,” She began to lead the younger girl away, “The Headmaster has told me he’d like to speak you before you go to your quarters. If you’d be so kind as to follow me?”

The two began the trek to the headmaster’s office, and Addie could barely stop her mouth from dropping open as they walked through the school. It was so beautiful, with such a gothic feel.

“So, where do you hail from in the States?” Minerva asked her as they walked, looking genuinely curious.

“Oh, I’m from New York; Long Island South.” She told her, gesturing around. “It’s so much different from here. It might take me a minute to get used to the cold.”

“Any family there?”

Addie had been expecting this question and chose her answer the best she could. “Just a few cousins and my younger brother, Perseus. But they don’t know about this life.”

Minerva hummed, then gave the tiniest of smiles, placing a gentle hand on Addie’s shoulder. “Not to worry, dear. You will find a home here, like so many of us have.” They stopped walking in front of a large statue of a griffin, and Minerva turned to it.

“Lemon Drops.”

There was a low rumbling, and then the statue turned, revealing a winding staircase. The professor turned back to her.

“He’s expecting you, simply knock and wait for him to invite you in. I’ll be waiting to take you to your quarters once you’re finished.”

Addie nodded, covering her nerves with rolled back shoulders and a confident look on her face. Thanking Minerva, she turned and walked up the stairs, heels clicking softly.

The doors to the headmaster’s office were just as she expected; large, polished, and grand. She raised a hand to knock, but her knuckles hadn’t even made contact with the wood before Dumbledore’s voice stopped her.

“Enter!”

The door clicked and slowly swung open, and Addie dropped her hand as the headmaster came into view, smiling at her behind a large desk of papers.

“Ah, Adrasteia, please, come in!”

The door closed behind her as she stepped into the office. It was huge, but then again, she hadn’t been expecting anything different. They were surrounded by shelves and shelves of books, stretching all the way to the high ceiling. Two small staircases on either side of the desk lead up to a loft where she could see another desk covered by more papers. The one that the headmaster was currently sitting behind was also filled with pots of ink and different quills. Next to it, a bird stand that seemed to shine like gold sat in a pile of smoking ashes.

“Please, have a seat, Professor Matthews.” He put emphasis on the title, eyes twinkling in amusement. She smiled, sitting in the chair across from him.

“Headmaster,” she offered, “I just wanted to say again how grateful I am that you’ve give me this opportunity; Hogwarts is such a wonderful and respected institution.”

“Oh,” he waved his hand, “we are more than happy to have you, Adrasteia. Now,” he brought out several rolls of parchment, “shall we discuss the rather boring subjects, then? Get them out of the way?”

It was what you would expect at a new job; simply telling her things to watch out for, how the point system worked, things of that nature. She had the authority to give and take points from the houses, and could dish out punishments, as well. She did not, however, have the authority to assign detentions. That was something she would have to speak to either Professor Snape or Minerva about.

This first year of her apprenticeship would be mostly assisting the two and learning how the job worked. Once school started next year, she learned that she would be helping with the lesson plans and even assigning homework. At the third and final year of her apprenticeship, she’d be helping more by substituting classes when needed and heading a study hall for the students, especially around exam times.

Addie would’ve been lying if she said she wasn’t excited. She wanted to be the very best, to show everyone how good she could be at this. She wanted that more than anything.

“And now, on a more somber note,” Dumbledore finally said, once all the pieces of parchment had been signed and magically filed away, “I did warn you in several of my letters that Hogwarts would be just slightly more cautious this year.”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“You see, Hogwarts is guarding a very important artifact from those who would steal it. Have you ever heard of the Philosophers Stone?”

Addie had to school her face to ensure she didn’t accidentally fix him with a disrespectful look. “Of course, made by Nicolas Flamel, known to give the holder the power of immortality and even possible to bring back the dead.”

He nodded solemnly. “Yes, that is the one. Recently, I had Hagrid remove the stone from its place at Gringotts for safety; I fear there is one who wishes to take it.”

“Who would…” Her question died before it made it past her lips, and she felt her blood drop to an icy temperature.

“Voldemort.”

Dumbledore looked surprised, but by no means disappointed, at her use of the Dark Lords name. “I must say, I’m surprised that you are brave enough to say his name.”

A rueful smile pulled at her lips before she responded. “Where I’m from, names have power. But I’ve found they only have as much power as others give them.”

A sudden crack of thunder seemed to shake the air, and Addie raised her eyes to glare at the ceiling while Dumbledore’s own orbs turned to a window, looking somewhat confused at the sudden weather change.

_For fuck’s sake, I’m not even at camp anymore, leave me alone._

“I must agree with you, Adrasteia. I’m afraid our sources have told me that Voldemort may be nearby; how close, we cannot be sure. Despite his faults, he is as clever and well thought-out as they come. Since it is not wise to underestimate one’s enemy, I have placed the stone beneath the school, in a room very hard to access. Myself, Hagrid, and each head of house have placed safe-guards between the rest of the school and the stone itself, but I depend on the staff to ensure the safety of the children while it resides here. He cannot make a move in Hogwarts without my knowledge.”

Addie nodded, her own face solemn. “I understand, sir.”

With that, the sudden light popped back into the old wizard’s eyes, and he stood, rounding the desk to shake her hand once more as she did the same. “I look forward to your time here at Hogwarts, Professor Matthews, and I know that Severus and Minerva do, as well.”

_Oh, yeah, Snape seems like a barrel of fun,_ she thought wryly, but smiled anyway, nodding in thanks.

Once Minerva had showed her to her chambers, Addie shut and locked the door behind her, breathing a breath of relief at the silence. The cool, dark, and quiet of her small apartment within the school already offered so much comfort, she could cry.

It was sizeable, about as big as the entirety of Cabin Three. There was a small living room, already furnished and a fire blazing in the fireplace. Attached to it was a kitchenette, and she noticed in amusement that it was complete with a cute little kettle and a bowl of tea bags.

_That’s right, I almost forgot that I’m surrounded by Brits now,_ she remembered, snorting a little and walked past the area to a large, oak door at the end.

Behind it was a grand room, complete with a four-poster bed. It was hanged with silk, maroon drapes and bed covers with gold accents. Across from it was a large oak closet and a slightly shorter armoire with a sizeable mirror on top, and a matching desk sat in front of one of two tall windows. A nightstand next to the bed offered a lamp with a long candle, and the door right next to the closet was a luxurious looking bathroom with a large shower that she was dying to try out. Her suitcase was already set at the foot of the bed.

As she unpacked, she could barely contain her glee and relief at being able to use magic. It was like getting back a missing part of your body; you learned to live without it, but damn, did it feel good to have it with you again.

Once her clothes were neatly put away and her supplies set up at the desk, Addie turned to the bed and bit her lip, fingering the tip of her wand. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and she flicked her wand once.

The drapes and bed cover turned from maroon to a deep, sea green color, the gold accents colored over with black and silver. She did the same with the curtains, and the rug, and eventually the bathroom. She stood back and surveyed her work, hands on her hips and a satisfied feeling.

There, much better.

It was after she enjoyed the steaming hot shower and changed into her nightgown that the young girl realized just how tired she was. Yawning, she set her wand on her bedside table and settled in, nearly moaning at how far she sank into the mattress. It was softer than anything she’d ever slept on. Then again, she’d slept on the ground before during a thunderstorm, so the bar was set pretty low.

Blowing out her lamp, she settled back and stared up at the top of the bed canopy, following the black and silver designs with her eyes. She wasn’t sure how long it took, but it couldn’t have been too long before she drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Addie's first week at Hogwarts. If you're a little disappointed at the lack of interaction between our girl and Snape in this chapter, don't worry. There will be plenty of sass and attitude between them in the future, believe me lol. Also, I have no idea if frogs count as water animals, since they're both land and water but idk I thought that would be cute to throw in there. Plus, it gives us a glance at Addie's powers, which we will be learning more about as the story goes on. Please don't forget to comment and kudos, and I'll be seeing you guys next time!


	7. OPPOSITION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addie's nightgown/robe: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/505388389440686865/

_The beach again._

_Frustration rose in Addie’s chest once her eyes opened, and she sighed heavily through her nose before sitting up. It was sunrise, her favorite time of day back at camp. The smell of the sea made her feel homesick all over again, and a part of her wished that Percy, Annabeth, or Chiron could be part of this dream._

_“You’ll have to forgive me. I thought this spot would make you feel better, not worse.”_

_The young woman fought her eyeroll as she turned to face her father. Standing there in his Bermuda shorts and tanned skin, thick black curls waving in the sea breeze. Once they faced each other, he smiled, eyes crinkling._

_“I’m glad to see you’ve arrived at your school safely.”_

_“Is Percy ok?”_

_He cocked his head at her question. “Why wouldn’t he be?”_

_She shrugged carelessly, gesturing around them. “Well, I’m just accustomed to only talking to you when we’re in crisis, I guess.”_

_His pleasant expression twitched, and for just one second, regret seemed to flicker behind his eyes._

_“I haven’t called you here to give any bad news, Adrasteia. I’ve simply called you here to warn you.”_

_“About what?” It was hard to keep the snap out of her voice. “I’m not in camp anymore, it’s no longer my responsibility. This is my life now; magic, teaching at this school.”_

_“I know.” He responded, voice grave. “That’s why I called you here.”_

_“What?”_

_“Adrasteia,” He started, “I’ve told you before; I took your memories away for a reason, a very good one. When I feel that having them will no longer put you in danger, you can see them again.”_

_Hearing him speak of her memories like they were a privilege being withheld from a child to gauge their behavior made her blood boil, and the waves crashing against the sand seemed to grow just slightly rougher, the wind picking up. “Those are_ my memories-“

_“I know.” He said again, but shockingly enough, he didn’t sound impatient, not like he had before. “And while you may not believe me, I don’t enjoy withholding them. But I am your father, and I know you don’t believe me when I say this, but I care about you. And I love you. However, there is something I can tell you.”_

_“If it’s another cryptic message, you should save your breath.” She told him quietly, gaze turning to the sea. “I’ll find out on my own, just as I always have.”_

_“But I don’t want you to do this on your own.” The tone of his voice made her turn back to him, shock registering in her chest when she saw the regretful look on his face. “Trust me, Adrasteia. This part of your journey is one that cannot be completed without help.” He paused again, seeming to hesitate. “While you lived at camp, there are certain things I…_ avoided _letting you be exposed to. Things I wanted you to never be in contact with your entire life. But I can’t protect you at Hogwarts. This is where your path truly begins.”_

_“What do you mean?” She asked, curiosity piqued. She took a step forward. “What have you kept from me?”_

_But he didn’t answer. He simply looked out onto the surf, then back at her, eyes crinkling again. “It’s almost time for you to wake up. Please be safe, Adrasteia. And don’t forget to write your brother; he prays for you every day.”_

Addie’s first week at Hogwarts taught her several things.

The first was that Minerva McGonogall was the most badass witch she’d ever laid eyes on. The woman could have easily been her grandmother, but she was also terrifying when angered. Returning students knew never to push her buttons, and the first years quickly learned that the professor was not to be messed with.

During one particular class, Addie’s attention was again drawn to three particular students. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and a young girl with bushy hair and freckles named Hermione Granger. The three made her smile in nostalgia, especially watching Hermione and Ron argue over every little thing. Near the end of Transfiguration, the first-year girl was the only one they’d seen who could successfully turn her match silver and pointy. It didn’t quite become a needle, but it was damn close. McGonogall offered her a rare smile.

The second thing Addie learned was that all of the students were watching her very carefully. She was still young, and far from stupid; they were gauging who she was as a person, what kind of professor she’d be, things of that nature. And she did her best to keep them on her toes. Hogwarts was one of the finest schools there was, and Dumbledore was literally one of the greatest wizards alive, so she expected a lot out of the students. Some of them grumbled about it, but mostly, they rose to the challenge.

The third and final thing that she learned was that Severus Snape did not like her.

Of course, she didn’t take it personally. He didn’t seem to like anyone. Teacher, student, or other. He favored the Slytherin house above all else and hated the Gryffindor house with a burning passion that she didn’t quite understand. And she didn’t try to, either. This man’s issues were his own and she didn’t need to be dragged down with him.

For that first week, she simply did her best to stay out of his way. She needed this apprenticeship and wasn’t about to rock the boat. So, for the first four days of that week, she worked very hard to keep her mouth closed and would simply keep all smartass remarks to herself.

But Friday was what one would call ‘the last straw’.

Addie had been sneaky about handing points out to the other houses in front of Snape, not wanting him to take them back, and she’d never questioned or disobeyed him outright in front of the students. She didn’t want the kids seeing that the professors couldn’t work as a team.

But she had a mind of her own, and despite how sarcastic and slightly bitter she was, she also had a heart. So, she wasn’t too sure which one was to blame for Friday.

It started off normally enough; they had double potions with the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years that day, so she had written out instructions on the board for the potion they’d be making that day. Snape was prepping supplies with his wand as she flicked her own and distributed a textbook to each desk.

This was how things normally went. He gave her instructions of what needed to get done, she did them, and that was the most they spoke.

But when class started, she could barely keep her face schooled. While calling roll, he came across Harry Potter’s name, and something came over his face. It was something akin to a sneer, like he’d just found gum stuck to his shoe.

“Ah, yes. Harry Potter, our new… _celebrity.”_

Draco Malfoy and a few of his friends snickered, but quickly shut up when Addie shot them a withering look. The blond was really starting to wear on her nerves, and it was only the first week.

Once Snape had finished calling roll, he waved his hand and got rid of the parchment with a wave of his hand. Speaking barely above a whisper, he began to pace between the student’s desks.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death- if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads I usually have to teach.”

It was his classic speech, and Addie took this time to watch the student’s reactions. Some looked terrified, others a little intimidated, and some, like Hermione, looked absolutely desperate to prove that they were not dunderheads.

“Potter!” Snape’s sudden exclamation made the class as a whole jump in their seats, and caused his aide’s eyes to flicker to him in confusion. “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

Addie could barely keep her shock off of her face. _What the hell was he doing?_ Those were not first year questions to ask on the first day of class, that was easily half-way through second year and up. No way would the boy have those memorized.

Shockingly enough, Hermione had her hand raised, looking eager to answer. Unsurprisingly, though, Harry looked equally startled and shook his head.

“I don’t know, sir.”

Snape sneered again, this time even nastier than before.

“Tut, tut. Fame clearly isn’t everything.”

Addie’s eyes narrowed to slits as he continued, completely ignoring Hermione’s hand.

“Let’s try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

Malfoy and his little friends were snickering again, louder this time, and Addie could barely keep the glower off her face as she watched the encounter. Snape was a hard-ass, that was obvious, but this was just plain cruel.

“I don’t know, sir.”

Hermione’s hand was still up, but Snape’s eyes were zeroed in on Harry like a snake going for the kill. Just one look at the kid told Addie everything she needed to know. She knew exactly how he was feeling. Humiliated, terrified, and slightly ashamed. Ashamed that a teacher called on you for an answer, one that despite you best efforts, you couldn’t give. She’d had that moment so many times throughout her time in school, even during her final year. It almost hurt to watch.

But the potions master didn’t stop.

“Thought you wouldn’t open a book before coming, eh, Potter?” He taunted, and the young girl could barely stop her mouth from dropping open.

_What the fuck is the man’s_ problem?

“What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?”

At this point, Hermione physically stood from her chair, hand still raised. Addie clenched her jaw, watching Harry’s face turn a humiliated shade of red, and snapped.

_That’s it._

“Yes, Ms. Granger?” She spoke up, quiet enough to be polite but firm enough to ensure everyone heard her. “Would you like to tell myself and Professor Snape the answer?”

The room went so quiet, you could’ve heard a pin hit the floor. Hermione looked surprised, then a little nervous. She and the other students looked over to Snape, who had turned to glare at his aide, face white with fury.

She met his gaze, tilting her chin up just slightly, before turning back to Hermione.

“Ms. Granger, the answers?”

Hesitantly, the young girl spoke. “Asphodel and wormwood made a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, which goes by the name of aconite.”

Addie smiled warmly at the girl, nodding. “Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor.”

The room was still deadly quiet, all turned towards Snape. He glared at her one final time before turning towards the class.

“Well?” He barked, “Why aren’t you all writing that down?”

Things didn’t improve from there, not in the slightest. Snape went around giving the Slytherin’s points for every single thing, no matter how stupid it was. The same went for taking points from the Gryffindors. He especially seemed to like Malfoy, who he was constantly using to compare to other students and criticize the potions work. Addie was doing her best to help the ones that were struggling, but Neville Longbottom escaped her notice until too late. He’d managed to melt his and Seamus Finnigan’s cauldron into a twisted blob, the ruined potion soaking onto the floor. It burned holes in people’s shoes as they shrieked and jumped onto stools and tables alike.

Addie cleaned the mess with a simple flick of her wand, but Neville had been drenched in the potion. Angry red boils appeared all over his skin, and he groaned in pain.

“Idiot boy!” Snape snarled, “I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?”

Neville could barely respond he was in so much pain, and Addie stepped forward, blocking his view of the professor. “Ok, hospital wing. Now.”

She marched the young boy out of the dungeon, moving him to the school’s healer as quickly as she could. Madame Pomfrey seemed to know right away what had happened, and got Neville situated on a bed, giving him several potions that stopped the pain and brought the boils back down. She then rushed off to get some more, saying something about some salve for his skin, and the teacher and student were left alone.

“I’m really sorry.” He apologized for the one-hundredth-and-fifteenth time, looking down at his lap. “I’m rubbish at Potions, I just don’t understand it.”

“Neville, it’s your first day.” Addie reminded him, amused. “I don’t expect you to be perfect, or even good.”

“Yeah, but Professor Snape does. You heard him, he called me an idiot.”

The mention of Snape’s unprofessionalism and clear lack of tact made Addie’s blood boil a little, but she schooled her expression as Neville spoke again, sounding so sad it made her heart crack a little.

“Maybe my family was right. Maybe I’m not magic enough; not enough to be here, at least.”

The demigoddess bit her lip, watching the kid, before sitting forward. “Neville, do you know what dyslexia is?”

He looked up, a little startled. “Er, no.”

“How about ADHD? Have you ever heard of that?”

He shook his head again, and Addie tucked an unruly curl behind her ear that had fallen out during the mayhem.

“They’re No-Maj- I mean, they’re muggle disabilities. They both affect learning. ADHD makes you really energetic, and it’s incredibly hard to focus on just one thing, so school is really difficult. And dyslexia affects your ability to read. It makes the letters look really strange and kind of mixed up.”

“Mixed up?”

“Yeah, like…” She trailed off, looking around them. Her eyes landed on a pamphlet sitting next to them about the danger of underage magic. “Like this.” She held up the pamphlet and tapped it once with her wand. The letters began to float and turn around until it was difficult to tell what they had been saying in the first place.

“Woah.” Neville breathed, “That sounds very hard. Do people really have that?”

Addie’s lips twitched. “I have that, Neville.”

His eyes went wide, and she nodded. “Actually, I have both. Dyslexia and ADHD. When I was at Ilvermorny, school was really hard for me. Sometimes, reading still is. It gives me this big headache and sometimes I even have to take a break and let my eyes and brain rest before I get back to it.”

“Have you healed it?” He asked, looking extremely curious. “Are you better?”

She shook her head. “No, there’s no ‘getting better’. It’s something I’ll have for the rest of my life. And you know something else? I don’t need to get better. There is nothing wrong with me, and there’s nothing wrong with you. So, potions isn’t your forte.” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “I’ve heard you’re pretty good with herbology, is that right?”

He blushed a little, nodding shyly, and she smiled. “Well, there you go! My point is, Neville: If I can become a professor with several learning disabilities, you can pass potions.”

“You-you really think so?”

She sat forward. “I _know_ so.”

By the time she got back to the dungeons, classes were over for the day, and therefore the week. When she opened the door to the potions classroom, Snape was finishing stacking away the cauldrons and other supplies with his wand. His face turned stormy the second she stepped into the room.

“You’re back.” He stated, sounding almost bored, and Addie glared at him as she crossed the room, flicking her wand to clean up some trash on the stone floor.

“Yep. And your student is ok, just by the way. Since I know that was going to be your next question.” She said, keeping her tone faux polite. He narrowed his eyes further in her direction.

“Speaking of students, just what do you call that display back there?”

“What display?” She asked innocently.

“You cannot outwardly fight against me in class, these students will never respect either of us if that happens.”

“I wasn’t disrespecting you.” She bit back, her own temper rising. “I was offering a student the chance to answer a question, since you seemed to think those questions were _so important._ You know, since you asked a first year on the _first day of class._ ”

He stormed towards her, black robes billowing as angrily as the rest of his mood. “I will not be judged or berated by a girl who was wearing a school uniform not too long ago; you’re not even a real professor yet.”

“I don’t have to be a professor to ask you what the hell that was.” She told him, eyes blazing. “What exactly were you hoping to accomplish by humiliating the kid in front of his peers?”

“Potter walks around here like the rules do not apply to him; the boy’s head has been inflated by his status as ‘The Chosen One’.” He said the title like it left a bad taste in his mouth. “Excuse me if I don’t feel the need to worship at his feet like every other person in this school, teacher or otherwise.”

“What you call ‘worship’ most people would just call ‘being decent to a _child_ ’!” Addie ground out, then threw up her hands. “You know what? Why are we even arguing about this? If I can’t get someone who teaches kids to see that being outright cruel to one is wrong, then I’m wasting my breath.”

“Oh, by all means, don’t feel the need to speak more than you already do!” Snape told her venomously, black eyes blazing with flame. “You should count your days here at Hogwarts, Matthews!” He exclaimed to her back as she stalked out of the room, “You might want to consider a profession somewhere else.”

“And _you_ might want to consider washing your hair!” She shot over her shoulder before slamming the door behind her.

**GENERAL POV**

“Matthews is no longer welcome as my aide.”

Dumbledore looked up from his desk as Severus Snape stormed into his office that night, seething in fury. He merely stared at the man quizzically over his half-moon spectacles as steam practically rose from his skin.

“Whatever do you mean, Severus?”

“I cannot work with someone such as her.” The potions master ground out, beginning to pace. “She speaks out of turn, she is rude, unprofessional, does not take orders well, and thinks herself above everyone else in this school! Minerva can keep her, but I will not continue to have her as an apprentice.”

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, sitting back in his chair. “Well, I must say, I’m surprised. The feedback I’ve been receiving is that everyone loves her. She is wonderful with the students and from what Minerva has reported to me, she is quite skilled with her knowledge. When I brought the idea to you, I believe your response was, ‘so long as it is not someone who is a complete dunderhead’?”

“I would take a million dunderheads over this young woman, she is impossible to be around!” Snape cried indignantly, then took a deep breath, clearly attempting to calm down. It didn’t help, however, when he faced his headmaster to see the man watching him with barely concealed amusement. It dawned on him what the old man was thinking, and he shook his head. “Headmaster-“

“I don’t know how I can let her go now, Severus.” Dumbledore told him joyfully, setting his quill down. “I haven’t seen you show this much emotion over something in a very long time.”

Snape spluttered, face red with anger. “This isn’t _good_ emotion, Headmaster!”

But Dumbledore merely shrugged. “Regardless of that, I’m afraid Professor Matthews is a valuable asset. Have you attempted to reconcile?”

“ _I_ did nothing wrong.” The younger man growled. “So _I_ will not be the one to apologize.”

With that, he stormed out of the office. The headmaster watched him slam the door behind him, then chuckled, turning to his phoenix.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Fawkes?”

The bird looked at him and cocked his head to the side. Dumbledore chuckled.

“Exactly.”

Luckily for Addie, the day perked up a little at the end. Near the end of dinner, an owl flew by and dropped several envelopes in front of her, each holding familiar handwriting. With barely contained excitement, she opened the first one.

_Dear Addie,_

_Wow, you weren’t kidding. When the owl first came to my window, my dad almost called animal control. I had to grab you letter and shoo the little guy away before he could finish dialing the number. But from what you wrote, your school sounds amazing! Getting paid to teach in Europe sounds like a dream come true!_

_My family is doing just fine; so far, there haven’t been any monsters. I’m knocking on wood as I say that, since I feel like the very first one is going to cause an argument. I can tell my stepmom isn’t really happy that I’m here, but my siblings seem really eager. They keep asking me to play with them, and Krista keeps asking to braid my hair. It’s a lot longer than hers, and it’s the same shade as her barbie, so I think that’s why she likes me so much._

_My dad is really trying, I can tell he is. He keeps wanting to do ‘father/daughter bonding’ activities, like taking me to sight see in the city and offering to get me ice cream constantly. He even talked about getting a puppy, but I think that’s because I asked for one right before I ran away._

_But enough about me, how are you? Are the teachers ok? How is that one you said wasn’t very nice the first time you met him? Has he gotten better? What subjects do they teach? I wish I could visit you, that would be so cool!_

_Anyway, I really miss you. I’ve been emailing Percy, and I can tell he misses you too. He keeps asking if I’ve heard back from you, so maybe write him back first so he doesn’t give himself a heart attack._

_Missing you tons,_

_Annabeth_

The next one had handwriting that was much worse, but still decipherable. Smiling, Addie popped that one open next, already guessing what her younger brother would say. And she was right.

_Dear Addie,_

_Oh man, a teacher was already mean to you? Are you sure you want to stay? Maybe if you play your cards right, you can get transferred to a new one. How’s the other one you’re an aide for, the woman? Is she nice? I remember you telling me that the school has some pretty strict staff._

_School’s going great for me. I’m actually passing my classes, and I’m proud to say I’ve kept up with my training. I still sleep with Riptide under my pillow, but I haven’t used it in a while. That actually makes me nervous, shouldn’t the monsters have smelled me by now? Maybe I shouldn’t push it, you know how bad my luck is with that stuff._

_I’ve made a friend, his name is Tyson. He’s a homeless kid the school took in as this outreach program. You should see mom, she’s called CPS and the cops and everything, trying to get him off the street. But they keep telling her they can’t find him outside of school. Like, they can’t find the cardboard box he claims to live in or anything, it’s super weird. Anyway, he’s pretty cool. He’s this big kid, and he’s a little slow at times. But I swear, he’s like that book my mom used to read me when I was little. That one about the bull that loves flowers, Ferdinand, I think? Yeah, Ferdinand the Bull. Anyway, he hates being mean or overly aggressive, even though he could easily take half the kids at this school down._

_There are mean kids, too, but nothing I can’t handle. Compared to Clarisse and Luke and Ares, they’re nothing._

_Write back soon, I want to know how things are going! And do me a favor: hand that teacher’s ass to him in a fight, you’d win hands down, and we both know it. If only he knew who he was messing with right?_

_Percy_

_P.S. What did they say about Christmas? Can you come to NY?_

“W-what l-l-language is that?”

Quirrell’s voice made her jump, and she looked up from the letter to see him staring at it in confusion. Mentally, she kicked herself. She was so used to reading and writing in ancient and modern Greek that she forgot it wasn’t English.

“Um,” she stuttered, caught off guard, “it’s Greek. Yeah, my dad’s whole side of the family is from Greece, so we always speak it to each other.”

“I-is that h-h-him? Y-your father?”

“No,” she denied, shaking her head. As she did, she saw Snape sitting in the chair in front of them, head tilted slightly. Was he listening? “No, it’s just my little brother and my younger cousin, I’m really close with them.”

Quirrell sat forward, looking more interested than she’d ever seen, and started to open his mouth. But he was cut off by another voice.

“And just what have you devised for your exams, Quirrell?”

Snape’s voice had reached a point that it put Addie on edge whenever it was near her, and she turned to glare at him. Quirrell stuttered and then shifted in his seat, looking infinitely more nervous than he had when speaking to Addie. The change was not lost on the young teacher.

“O-oh, w-w-well now that y-you m-mention it, Severus…”

Already done with her meal, Addie collected the letters and politely excusing herself before moving towards her chambers. She had some papers to review for McGonogall, and then she wanted to write back to Percy and Annabeth. A part of her was disappointed that she hadn’t heard from Chiron, but he wasn’t the letter type. Maybe she could find a private spot and IM him soon.

Back in her chambers, she took a steaming shower and changed into her nightgown, a fire blazing in the living room to warm her as she settled in with a cup of decaf coffee and her work. She’d been trying to get tea right, and also been attempting to gain a taste for it, but every time she did, she would find herself longingly staring at the coffee supplies she’d brought with her. She’d even magicked it so it would last longer. What a shame to let it go to waste.

Once her work was done, the clock above her fireplace told her it was well after midnight. Seeing as there were no scheduled classes the next day, she grabbed a few fresh rolls of parchment and began responding to her younger cousin and brother. She told them that McGonogall was really cool and Snape was still an ass but kept the current situation with Neville and Harry to herself; she didn’t want to tell them until she’d resolved it.

Just as she was signing Percy’s letter, a knock on her door startled her. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the clock again, wondering who in the hell would be at her door a few minutes after one in the morning. Grabbing her robe, she tied it around herself and walked carefully to the door, wand in hand. Call her paranoid, but anybody could be on the other side.

“Yes?” She called out but was met only with silence. The hallway was dark, meaning she couldn’t see anyone’s shadow underneath the door. She shifted towards it, her grip on her wand growing tighter. “Hello? Is someone there?”

Still nothing.

No footsteps, no breathing, complete and utter silence.

Slowly, she reached forward, fingers curling around the ornate handle and slowly creaking it open, peering through the crack. The hallway was empty in her line of vision, and she ever so carefully pushed the door open further, wand at the ready and deep brown eyes following the length of the hall.

Empty.

No one was perched just outside her door, no one was anywhere near it. A torch at the very far end of the hall offered some bare light, and Addie took a brave step out of her apartment.

_Someone had been here; she could feel it._

Her demigod senses were going haywire, and she knew that something unfriendly had been nearby not too long ago. The thought of a monster possibly sneaking into the school made her blood run like ice in her veins, and she realized that if that was the case, she had to neutralize the threat. She was now responsible for the safety of everyone in the school if she was the one who had brought the threat-

_Wait._

What was that? She turned, whispering _lumos_. Her wand lit up, and she stared hard at the end of the hallway, just behind the burning torch. Was that a shadow? It had felt looked like one. Was it the person who had knocked on her door, was it a monster trying to put her on edge? She started walking forward slowly, wanting to catch whatever it was off-guard. The flames of the torch flickered again, and the shadow moved across the wall, making Addie freeze.

There was something just around the corner.

Her breathing picked up, and she walked forward, unoccupied fingers edging towards Storm. Fuck the rules, if something was about to kill her, she’d use both wand and weapon. Zeus’s stupid rules be damned.

Closer, closer… her heart was pounding right out of her chest, muscles coiled tighter than springs. Her mind was running through every possibility, every maneuver and spell she knew, ways to escape the situation and warn Dumbledore, all of it. She paused just by the edge of the wall, ready to jump around the corner and face the threat. She took a deep breath.

_1, 2, 3, now!_

“Damn it, Trevor!”

The little toad stared up innocently at her with big black eyes, sitting contentedly on the stone floor. Addie took her hand off storm and looked around, raising her wand and checking every area of the hall, but there was nothing. The feeling of the threat had lifted so suddenly it almost made her dizzy, and she braced a hand on the wall next to her, glaring slightly at the small amphibian.

“What are you doing here?” She demanded, slightly more furious than she would normally be at the scare she’d just been put through.

_Croak._

Sighing, she bent down, gathering the small animal into her hands. He seemed to smile innocently at her as she walked back to her room, casting one more cautious glance around her. Nothing.

“I’ll take you back to Neville in the morning.” She told the animal, placing him in a small bowl of water on her countertop. He shifted happily in his little area, croaking in content once again. Addie rolled her eyes, then shuffled off towards her room after putting the fire out. Closing the door behind her, she paused and then turned the deadbolt at the top; a special lock that had been spelled to let her know who was attempting to access her room. Crossing to her bed, she settled in and blew out her lamp, eyes on her door.

And that was how she fell asleep.

But she failed to notice a pair of narrowed eyes, watching from a shadowy part of the hallway as the younger girl gathered the small animal into her hands and slipped back inside her apartment, robe billowing around her like a silver cloud.

She was so much more attentive than he’d been expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, why is Quirrell so interested in our girl? Who was outside her room? What is Poseidon trying to protect her from? And in case anyone was wondering, no, Kronos has not forgotten about Addie. You'll find out why he's not bugging her soon enough.  
> Also, I should let y'all know that Apollo and Remus Lupin are the top two contenders for Addie's romantic interest. If you hate those two or you really want one or the other to win, I highly suggest you go vote in the poll!   
> https://www.quotev.com/quiz/13253811/Adrasteias-Romantic-Interest  
> Stay safe you guys, and I'll see you next time!


	8. OBSERVATIONS, MONSTERS, AND UNWILLING PARTNERS

Time was suddenly flying by. Addie’s days were filled with grading papers, helping the kids with their assignments and studying, and writing Percy and Annabeth. She was prepared to be spending Christmas with Percy and his mother, Sally Jackson, in their apartment back in New York over the break.

Snape hated her; she was pretty sure he outright loathed her very existence. But she was also pretty sure that the headmaster had shot him down when he’d asked to have her removed, so the most they spoke was when he was assigning her tasks or shoving a huge stack of essay’s into her arms and demanding they be graded by the next morning. He was clearly attempting to break her will, but the joke was on him. She’d climbed a freaking lava wall, she could handle some extra paperwork.

But the thing that was freaking her out the most was Quirrell. He was suddenly wanting to talk to her constantly and asking lots of questions about her childhood. The girl had experience with fending off unwanted attention from men, but for someone so afraid of his own shadow, the professor was incredibly persistent. What bothered her even more was the _staring_. If he wasn’t speaking to her, she felt that creeping feeling in her spine that she was being watched. Even if she couldn’t see him. There hadn’t been anymore knocks on her door late at night, but she began to sleep with Storm still around her neck and her wand under her pillow, just in case.

It was about the Sunday before Halloween that she found herself outside, changed into regular clothes of warm jeans and a coat, walking the grounds. She stayed within the boundaries of the school, (she didn’t feel like fighting anything right now) but did her best to stray far enough away from the groups of children that were lounging around.

She continued to wander, lost in her thoughts, until she broke through a grove of trees to find herself on a rocky beach, facing the lapping water of the lake. A smile broke out onto her face, and she looked around, ensuring no one was there before she bent down and slipped off her boots, rolling up her jeans.

The water was freezing, but to her, it was perfect. Being a child of the sea meant she could handle subfreezing water temperatures better than most. And it had been so long since she’d been in any body of water besides a bath, she could have cried. Tiny waves lapped at her skin, as if welcoming her home. She waded out a little further, reaching down to run her fingers through the silky water. Raising her hand, she felt a tug in her gut and tingles ran down her arm and into her fingers. Soon, a thin pillar of water rose, following her hand like a puppy. Though she missed salt water, the dark depths of the lake seemed to call to her, begging her to submerge herself and go searching for the creatures that lived there. Unwittingly, she took several steps forward, but nearly jumped out of her skin when something brushed against her ankle, cold as ice. Addie jumped, the small pillar of water dropping back into the lake with a little splash.

The weirdest creature she’d ever seen was swimming circles around her, appearing to be curious but cautious. It would get close enough to brush against her, then dart back to a safe distance again. It looked like a weird little elf, but with tentacles coming from it like an octopus. It was a weird color, a fleshy pink that looked paler in the water as arms with webbed hands attached helped propel it forward. As it swam closer then backed away, she could see rows of tiny, shark-like teeth bared at her.

Addie knew this was risky; creatures of the deep in the magic world didn’t exactly follow the same rules as the traditional sea did. But she was willing to take a risk.

Bending down, she brushed her fingers over the waves again, as if stroking them, and smiled gently. “Hello, there.” She crooned, “What a gorgeous little thing you are.”

At the compliments, the creature ventured closer, watching her through narrowed eyes.

“I’m sorry if I’m intruding on your home,” she apologized sincerely, “but I miss the water so much.” A frown passed over her features. “I really miss the water I grew up in, the ocean and the beach. I would get on my surfboard and be on the waves all morning. I had this Great White that would always come to say hi, I named him Bruce. He scared the hell out of me the first time, but he’s pretty cool. He helped me get back on my board every time I fell off, especially in the beginning. He’s pretty supportive for a predator, if I do say so myself.”

The creature came closer, and that was when it hit her. A grindylow. She’d learned about them in school, but they weren’t common outside of Europe. This thing looked a bit different than the pictures in her textbook, but as she was studying it, a thought struck her.

“Where are all your friends?”

The grindylow, which had gotten even closer, looked over its shoulder. Her eyes widened seeing at least fifteen more creatures watching her from further out, now swimming closer. She straightened, feeling the waves respond to her movements and began to push towards her with a bit more force, bringing the creatures closer. The action and the lakes response seemed to intrigue the creatures, and they swam up to her, brushing up against her skin and cocking their heads at her, as if trying to figure her out.

“Don’t worry.” She reassured them in the same gentle, sincere tone she reserved for all aquatic creatures. “You have nothing to worry about, I won’t do anything to hurt you. And I won’t let anyone else, either.”

Just like Trevor, she couldn’t communicate well with them, but she could read into their emotions. They began to swim excitedly, as if they could understand the promise of safety.

She spent the nice hour or so playing with them, giggling as they pinched her toes in the water. Soon, though, a glance at her watch let her know that the sun would be setting soon enough. She looked at her new group of friends, who all looked sad as she turned to walk away.

“I’ll be back, I swear.” She told them firmly, and they all waved goodbye before disappearing back into the dark waves. She watched them swim off, and her chest ached. She longed to change into something more comfortable, like one of her bikini’s, and go swimming in the depths of the water. She wanted to see what was down there, she wanted to communicate with the creatures that lay in that deep, dark pit. It felt like someone was winding a rope around her and slowly pulling her further and further, but she resisted.

As much as it sucked, someone would for sure notice her absence.

“What are you doing in the Black Lake?”

Addie stopped, then felt her eyes roll the back of her skull. “Not that it’s any of your business,” she said hotly as she turned to face Snape, who was standing on the shore, the water swishing around her legs as her mood worsened “but I grew up around water. I miss it from time to time.”

“Ah, yes,” he drawled, closing the book he’d been flipping through. “I know that Americans are very obsessed with their beaches and water sports and such.” A nasty smile came over his face. “Why did you ever leave?”

“I’m not answering that.” She deadpanned, noticing the supplies in his arms. “Out gathering supplies for class?”

“No, I’m making flower crowns.”

A scowl worked its way over her face. _“Skata sta moutra sou…”_

“What?” He snapped, turning to glare at her. “What did you say?”

She shrugged innocently, “What are you talking about?”

“You said something in Greek, I heard you.”

“How did you know it was Greek?”

“Do you consider me stupid, Matthews?”

“Well-“

_“Don’t.”_

She smirked at his expression, then shook her head. “Don’t open yourself up for attacks like that, then.”

He glared at her one final time before turning back around to stalk off further into the woods. Addie only stared after him, shaking her head. How had the gods allowed one person to be so _annoying?_

Right as she began to wade towards shore, something flashed out of the corner of her eye. A pair of students, sixth years maybe, had bewitched a blue ball and were zipping around in the air, laughing as it bounced off of tree trunks and hit the ground before soaring into the air, only to come back down and start the process all over again. But one student waved his wand, putting a little too much force behind his charm, and the ball hit a tree trunk so hard it knocked off several pieces of bark and ricocheted off, flying over the heads of the students as they hit the ground and heading straight towards the back of Snape’s head.

“Watch out!” Addie cried, and several things seemed to happen in slow motion.

One, her hand shot out reflexively, seeing someone about to be injured. As the eldest one at camp, she’d been the sort of big sister to just about all the campers, and since most heroes were reckless and a little too impulsive, that meant stopping stupid decisions and ridiculous dares before they got too out of hand.

Second, she felt that familiar tug in her gut, and the tingles that rushed down her arm and through her fingers. A stream of water shot towards Snape, shaping into a shimmering spear.

And finally, it smacked into the ball with shocking force, knocking it off its course and sending it to the ground.

The students, who had ducked when the ball went over their heads, stood and looked over in confusion to see Snape whirling around, looking startled. Addie had dropped her hand, eyes widening at her involuntary actions, and cast her eyes above her. The sky had already been cloudy, but it seemed to darken ever so slightly. The lack of thunder at her actions confused her, but she wasn’t about to point out her actions if they’d gone unnoticed.

The sixth years looked even more confused when the ball was laying a few feet away from them instead of at the potion masters feet. One even picked up the ball and narrowed his eyes at it in suspicion, wiping the moisture off of it as the professor barked at them.

“Ten points from Gryffindor! Back inside, all three of you!”

The students grumbled, but obeyed, still glancing at water-logged sphere in confusion. Addie had rushed back to shore at that point, zipping up her boots and moving to speed-walk back to the school when Snape’s voice stopped her.

“How did you do that?”

She turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“How did you stop the ball? I didn’t see your wand.”

She blinked and cocked her head to the side, “What do you mean? I didn’t do anything to the ball, it missed you.”

“How did it miss me, yet land all the way over there?” He pointed five feet to his right, where the students had been messing around. She winced internally; he had a point, if the ball had missed, it would have landed ahead of him or maybe more to his left.

But the demiwitch only shrugged. “I don’t know. Like you said, I wasn’t holding my wand, so I didn’t do anything.”

His black eyes narrowed, but he didn’t look as angry as he normally did. Instead, he was watching her like he watched his potions sometimes. Calculating, analytical. Finally, he simply hummed and turned on his heel, walking away.

Once he was out of sight, Addie let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. _Stupid, stupid, be more careful next time! Gods, if someone had_ seen _you…_

She trekked back up to the school, already feeling hungry from her bout of power.

Halloween was soon upon them, and Addie watched in amusement as the students jumped from their seats and ran out of the potions classroom at the sound of the bell, chattering excitedly about the feast that evening. Snape had sent her to give some healing potions to Madame Pomfrey. As she walked the halls, it happened again.

That cold, prickling feeling on her spine, like she could physically fell someone’s eyeballs crawling up her body. The sensation made her want to cross her arms, but she avoided doing so, only speeding up her pace. Almost there…

“Professor Matthews.”

Quirrell’s voice made her turn, fingers closing around her wand, but she stopped when she saw him. “Professor Quirrell,” she greeted quietly in return, back still rigid, but letting go of her defense, “Sorry about that, you scared me.”

He nodded, stepping closer. “M-my a-a-apologies, Professor. I-I’m so gl-glad I caught you, I wanted t-to-“

“Quirrell.”

Both parties turned to see Snape, standing all in black, at the edge of the hallway. He was glaring at the DADA professor, like his mere presence was an insult. Addie could already feel the tension in the air, thick and unresolved, and she backed up several steps.

“Please go drop off those potions to the matron, Professor Matthews.” Snape ordered, black eyes never leaving Quirrell. “I’d hate for a student to lose a limb while you wandered.”

The insult would normally warrant a response, but she was so grateful to get away from Quirrell, she simply turned and walked off, not wanting to be around when they started fighting.

Later that night, Addie settled comfortably into her seat between Minerva and Snape, doing her best to ignore the dark-haired man. She and Minerva had struck up something of a friendship in those few months and were talking about the Halloween traditions in the US. The food began to appear, and she was halfway through some smoked ham when the doors to the Great Hall flew open, banging violently against the walls behind them. Quirrell came sprinting towards the head table, turban askew and terror written all over his face. He nearly collapsed against the table in front of Dumbledore’s chair, and gasped, “Troll- in the dungeons- thought you ought to know.”

Then he fainted.

Screams of terror and panic ripped across the Great Hall following his words, all sense of celebration abandoned. Addie hopped to her feet with the other teachers, feeling her muscles coil and her hands itch for her dagger. She felt ready for a battle.

Loud cracking silenced the chaos around them, and she saw several purple fireworks explode in the air, cast from Dumbledore’s wand. His eyes were no longer twinkling; instead, they blazed as he surveyed the children under his care.

“Prefects!” He rumbled, “Lead your houses back to your dormitories immediately!”

As the older students rounded up the younger ones, he turned to the staff. “Minerva, come with me. Hagrid, please go with Professor Flitwick and begin sealing off the dungeons; we can only hope to catch the creature. The rest of you, see to it that all students are safely inside their dormitories before convening at the dungeons. Watch for my patronus, in case I gain more information.”

Addie jumped into action, speed walking into the halls. One of the Hufflepuff prefects looked panicked, and she reached forward, placing a hand on his shoulder and calling to the crowd of yellow and black standing in front of him.

“Hufflepuffs! Follow your prefects back to your dormitories, do not stop for _anything!_ Older students watch after the younger ones; now, everyone!” She ordered, and the students didn’t bother to question her. They began following the older student back towards the kitchens, and Addie turned to see who else needed help.

Then stopped.

Snape was walking away from the chaos, robes billowing around him as he snuck off. Her eyes narrowed, and she followed, running after him.

“What are you doing?” She demanded, and he jumped, whirling around with his hand enclosed around his wand. Upon seeing her, he scowled.

“Damn it, Matthews, I don’t have time for this!” He snarled and turned to stalk away again. Addie followed him, nearly jogging to keep up with his long strides. He was roughly a foot taller than her, over six feet to her five foot two. But she stayed at his side, determined and wired from the danger surrounding them.

“What about the students-?”

“The students will be safe, that’s what the prefects are for. I’m attempting to take care of the issue at the source, so if you don’t mind.” He snapped at her, waving a hand over his shoulders as if to shoo off a fly. The motion made Addie stomach contort with fury, and she sped up, now matching his long strides.

_“Matthews_ -“

“I’m not just smart, you know.” She bit back at him, pulling out her own wand, “I’m also a very skilled dueler. And if you know how we can take this monster down, then I’ll stick with you.”

To her surprise, he chuckled darkly, and she realized they weren’t going towards the dungeons; they were headed for the third floor corridor.

“Oh, I’m not going after the troll, Matthews. I’m going after the one who called it here.”

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, “Who called it here?”

He turned to her as they walked, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. “During the chaos, did you happen to see Quirrell still passed out on the floor of the Great Hall?”

Addie nearly stopped in her tracks. She hadn’t. In fact, as they were leaving, she hadn’t noticed him at all. How did a man who had been in a dead faint suddenly get up and walk away with no trouble?

_Unless he didn’t actually faint_ , a voice in the back of her mind whispered.

“Wait, why would Quirrell- what?” She asked, but not in disbelief, more just confusion. Was the stuttering professor really terrified of everything, or was it an act he put on? Was that why he always seemed to be watching? Was that why he was always asking so many questions?

“I’m saying someone in this school is after the stone.” He answered shortly, and then stopped. Addie all but crashed into his back, but caught herself semi-gracefully, looking around him as he spoke grimly.

“Someone has unlocked this door.”

It was true. The wooden door that led to the trapdoor that would take them to the stone was fully unlocked, the latch swinging slightly. She turned to him, eyes narrowed.

“Doesn’t Hagrid have his own safeguard on the other side?”

Snape nodded, still staring hard at the lock. “Yes. You’ve never seen it?”

She suppressed a shiver. “I find it’s usually better for me to avoid all contact with large, man-eating monsters unless absolutely necessary.”

He didn’t look away from the door. “Well, I’m afraid you can’t avoid it this time.”

A snarl and an impossibly loud bark made the pair jump, and Snape grabbed the handle, flinging the door open and thundering in. Addie rushed to follow him, wand raised-

-and nearly froze in shock.

A massive, three-headed dog was standing, drooling and snarling, over a trapdoor. He was clearly angered, and all three heads’ hackles were raised straight up, but that wasn’t what shocked her.

Quirrell wasn’t even there.

“I thought you said he’d be here!” She cried, dove out of the way as one head snapped towards her, nearly taking her head off her shoulders.

Snape dove the other way, firing a stunning spell that missed by a few inches.

“Perhaps we beat him!” He snarled but was cut off by the loud, slamming sound. Addie turned in horror to see the door had shut.

“It’s a trap!” She cried and rushed towards the door. It didn’t even rattle when she pushed on it, and she fired a spell at the lock.

Nothing.

“It’s been spelled shut!”

“Open it!”

“I’m trying, damn it!” She snapped back, firing spell after spell. But nothing was working.

“Watch out!”

She jumped to the left just as a snarling pair of jaws tried to clamp onto her right leg. She rolled across the floor, gracefully coming to a stand at Snape’s side. “Ok, one of us has to keep it distracted while the other unlocks the door!”

“Alright.” He decided before she could finish telling him her plan, and she turned to him with wide eyes.

“No, wait, I meant me-!”

But he wasn’t listening anymore. He was firing spells and dancing out of the way of the three-headed dog. Addie cursed and ran for the door, firing every spell she’d ever learned. But nothing was working. If Quirrell was the person who had trapped them, then he had dark magic on his side. Any number of things could be keeping this door from opening.

“Matthews, some haste, if you would!” Snape shouted impatiently from the other side of the room, still barely dodging the dog’s attacks. But with every stunning spell and jinx that hit the beasts furry hide, it only seemed to get more and more pissed off.

“Matthews!”

“Come on, come on!” Addie screamed in frustration, kicking the door as her last _bombarda_ fizzled out. Snarling, she raised her wand and screamed in frustration.

“I said, _open!”_

Just then, something strange happened. A bolt of power rushed through her arm, like when she was manipulating water, and ran straight through her wand. A burst of turquoise shot from the wood and hit the door with a quiet _fwoosh!_

With a loud click, the door swung open. Her mouth dropped open, and she stared at her wand, but there wasn’t time to wonder what the hell had just happened.

“Go! Go!” Snape cried, throwing another jinx at the dog and rushing towards her. He didn’t dodge in time, though, and one heads teeth closed around his leg. “AAARGGHHH!”

“Hey, ugly!” She shouted, running towards them. All three heads flickered towards her just in time for the one biting Snape to be hit with a stinging hex right to the eyeball. It released its prey and roared in pain, shaking its head. With no time to waste, Addie ripped towards the bleeding man and threw his arm around her shoulders, rushing the both of them out of the room with practiced ease. She’d lost count of how many times Chiron had made her practice carrying fallen comrades off the battlefield. Of course, those had usually been fellow children, but still.

The pair flung themselves through the doorway just in time to miss another snap of teeth, and Addie threw herself against it, slamming the lock shut.

The two stayed there, staring at the door, panting and slowly coming down the high of a near-death experience. Though, one more than the other. After several beats of silence, Addie turned to survey the damage.

“Here,” she told the limping man, helping him over to a bench, “let me see.”

“It’s fine, Matthews, leave it-“ he growled and tried to brush her off, but she ignored him, rolling up his pant leg.

It was gruesome; the dog’s teeth had gone almost deep enough to hit bone. Some pieces of flesh were missing, and the area was bleeding profusely.

“Yikes.” She muttered, looking up at him. “That’s deep.”

“Yes, well, are you capable of bandaging it or shall I?” He asked through gritted teeth, and she scowled, a little tempted to just leave him there before tapping his leg with her wand.

_“Ferula.”_ Bandages spun around his leg, successfully stopping the blood flow and splinting the limb. “We need to get you to Madam Pomfrey, it’s hard to know if your leg is broken or not.”

“No.” He denied vehemently, standing. He winced, but turned to look at her as she rose, as well. “No one can know; if we go to the hospital wing, she’ll ask questions.” 

“Can you not be so hard-headed for _once_?” She demanded, exasperated. “How else are you going to heal it?”

“Don’t call me-!”

“Severus! Adrasteia!”

Minerva’s voice made them jump, hearing the witch draw closer. Addie and Snape made eye contact, and simultaneously slipped their wands away.

Minerva rounded the corner, gasping in relief when she saw them. Addie felt herself tense when Quirrell followed not too far behind, his face betraying nothing when he saw them.

“My goodness, where have the pair of you been? The troll has escaped the dungeons and is on the move-“

Her words were cut short by a loud, sudden crash somewhere below them. The noise was soon followed by shouting and panicked screams, both by young voices. Addie’s eyes widened.

“It’s coming from the girl’s bathroom.”

The group took off down the corridor, practically leaping onto the staircases to get to their destination in time. Addie nearly faceplanted several times, since she wasn’t used to the moving staircases as much as the rest of the staff but was proud to say she kept her balance. The crashing and screams got louder and louder as they neared the girl’s bathroom, and her heart leapt into her throat when she thought of what they might be faced with when they got there.

Then, to her horror, it all stopped.

Like someone had physically turned off the sound, all the screams and crashes halted, and the group slowed, turning to face each other with paling faces before taking off again, this time faster. Addie was ahead of the group, face set in determination, and she all but kicked the door down and stormed into the bathroom, wand raised.

And stopped dead.

“What the hell?!”

A troll, still and unmoving was lying face down in the ruins of what had once been stalls, toilets, and sinks. A stream of water was spraying into the air from a busted faucet, and they were surrounded by rubble. The troll, which was about twelve feet long with dull, gray skin, was lying beside his heavy wooden club. A noticeable bump appeared to be forming on the top of his head, and the adult’s eyes finally landed on the final sight.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger all stood next to it looking like they’d been put through a blender. Their hair was askew, clothes wet from the water and smudged with dirt, along with a bruise or two forming on their skin. But they were alive and didn’t appear to be bleeding. Upon hearing Addie’s exclamation, they turned to face the professor’s, faces paling.

Upon seeing the troll, Quirrell whimpered and fell/sat onto a toilet, a hand over his heart. Addie turned to watch him out of the corner of her eye, still looking for a give-away that he was guilty. But there was none.

Minerva herself looked more furious than Addie had ever seen her before. Her lips were white, and her hands were shaking as she fought to keep her temper in check.

“Explain yourselves!” She demanded as Addie and Snape bent over the troll. It snuffled, then sniffed again in its unconscious state, head turning towards Addie. Her eyes widened and she took a step away, ignoring Snape’s gaze on her.

_Shit, he can probably smell me._

“Please, Professor, they were looking for me.”

“Miss Granger!”

Addie’s head whipped towards Hermione so fast she felt an ache. The small girl was had shuffled closer to the boys, looking guilty. 

“I went looking for the troll because I-I thought I could deal with it all on my own. I’ve read all about them you see. If they hadn’t found me, I’d be dead right now. Harry stuck his wand up the trolls nose, and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn’t’ have time to fetch anyone, it was about to finish me off when they arrived.”

Addie narrowed her eyes at the girl. _Were all Gryffindor’s this terrible at lying?_ She could practically feel the same silent judgement coming off Snape, but didn’t look him, instead keeping her gaze on the three young students.

They all avoided her gaze, looking everywhere but she and their head of house. Minerva, had been staring at the girl in disbelief, shook her head.

“Well, in that case- Miss Granger, how could you be so foolish to go after a fully grown mountain troll?”

The girl hung her head.

“Five points will be taken from Gryffindor. I’m very disappointed in you. If you’re not hurt at all, you’d better get off to Gryffindor tower. The students are finishing their feasts in their Houses.”

Hermione looked towards the set of first year boys, smiling just a little, before scampering out of the bathroom and back towards the tower. The teachers turned to the boys, who were still standing rigidly, waiting for their own punishments.

“As for you two,” McGonogall started, “not many first years could take on a full-grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. That’s why five points will awarded to each of you.” She paused, then added, “For sheer, dumb luck.”

Once the troll had finally been dealt with, it was near midnight. The students were all tucked away in their respective Houses, and Addie and Snape were in the potion’s classroom. A myriad of healing and pain-relieving potions sat on the desk beside them while Addie was bandaging Snape’s leg. He watched her, black eyes narrowed as she worked to wind the bandages. Her fingers were surprisingly nimble and gentle for someone that wasn’t a trained healer, and it was clear she had some experience with first aid. He didn’t ask, though, and she finished the work in silence. He grunted out a thank you, and as he set his leg back down and turned to shuffle through some papers at his desk, she spoke.

“I want to know what you know.”

Snape continued to work at his desk, shrugging. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Look, you and I aren’t exactly BFF’s, ok, and that’s fine. But I saved your life, literally, and if you think someone in this school is dangerous, don’t you think you should share that information?”

“Again, I don’t know what you mean. And even if you were correct, I cannot simply accuse someone with no evidence.”

“So, why do you suspect Quirrell then?” She wondered, forehead creasing in confusion, and his jaw twitched.

“ _Again,_ it’s _none_ of your affair.”

“Why?”

“Matthews-“

“Tell me.”

“Matthews, I’m warning you-“

“If someone is putting this school in danger, you need to spill it or I’ll-“

She didn’t even get to finish her threat before he finally snapped and smacked his hand hard against the desk, cutting her off with a snarl.

“Because I believe he may have been in contact with the Dark Lord!”

His exclamation caused the words in her throat to die off immediately, leaving her mouth hanging open as she stared at him. The words sank into her mind, and a trickle of horror seeped into her chest.

“You- are you serios?” She breathed, and he scowled, shaking his head.

“Unfortunately, yes, I am.” He stood, craning his neck to check the door, and leaned in towards her, voice lowering. “Quirrell visited Romania before the start of term, a place He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was rumored to be in not too long ago. He goes after the angry, the wronged, and the weak-willed. I believe Quirrell fits at least one of those categories. If he is attempting to retrieve the stone, and he succeeds…” He trailed off, face seeming to pale ever so slightly. She didn’t miss how his right hand moved towards his left arm, rubbing it, as if it was sore. “Well, I don’t think I need to tell you the consequences.”

Addie stood, reaching up to fiddle with her necklace as the words sunk in. Running her finger over the point of the shark tooth made her feel just the slightest bit safe, and she turned, biting her thumbnail and beginning to pace down the rows of chairs.

“Well, he’s been in the school for this long, _and_ he’s already set up his own safeguard for the stone, so it’s safe to say he’s already gotten more than enough information.” She mused, turning and pacing back towards the desk, her mind racing. “We’ll have to try and figure out his next move, since the troll didn’t end how he had planned.”

Snape cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at her. “Pardon? _We_ are not going to do anything; _I_ am going to continue with my original plan and _you_ are going to continue with _your_ apprenticeship and not speak of this to anyone.”

Addie stopped in her tracks, hand dropping to her side as she stared at him in disbelief. “Are you kidding? Look, I don’t know if you noticed, but if Voldemort comes back, we’re all going to be in trouble. You think I’m just going to bury my head in the sand and pray to the gods you don’t screw anything up?”

“Don’t say the Dark Lords name!” Snape hissed, moving from around his desk, but she stood her ground.

“Oh, please, save your wizard lecture, alright?” She scowled, placing her hands on her hips. “Look, I came to this school for a better life, and a better future. If someone is not only threatening me and my life, but the life of the _children_ that attend this school, then I’m in.”

“You’re _in?_ ”

“Yeah, I’m going to help you.”

“I know what it means, Matthews. I’m not a fool.”

“Well-“

“ _Don’t._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I just want to point out I was 100% team Sirius when I started this story but the more I write Addie and Snape together the more I lean towards him as her pairing.
> 
> So, for their little fight scene with the dog: I know that in the book it says Snape goes to 'head Quirrell off' when the troll breaks in, but if he saw him actively fighting to get to the stone, why would he keep that to himself? I couldn't tell if that was a plot hole or I'm just really stupid so I came up with something I thought made more sense. Sorry if it's AU lol.
> 
> I'm so glad you guys are liking this story, and I'll be seeing you next time!


	9. IT'S MERRY, NOT HAPPY

With November came even colder weather, if that had been possible. The water in the lake had chilled to what would normally be unbearable to pretty much everyone, but Addie could not be deterred. She found herself sneaking out at night when sleep eluded her, stripping to her bikini, and swimming with the grindylows.

She soon discovered the giant squid that lived in the lake. He was such a friendly thing, always waving his tentacles in greeting whenever she swam near him. She also learned that he enjoyed it when she waved her hand, swishing the currents over his massive head as if she was petting him.

One of the few secrets she’d learned about the lake was the merpeople. They weren’t the nicest bunch, and quite a few were still incredibly weary of her. But she was the eldest living child of the god of the sea and his only daughter, and that came with certain levels of respect. Basically, they didn’t skewer her whenever she swam deeper into the lake, and she did her best to give them their space.

She and Snape’s observance of Quirrell had degraded to downright frustrating. As Quidditch season approached, he seemed to realize the scrutiny he was under, and did absolutely nothing. Addie began to wonder if she’d made a poor judgement call.

Until the week before the first Quidditch game of the season.

_Something was wrong._

_She knew that as soon as her eyes opened. She also knew that she was in a dream, but what spooked her was it wasn’t a normal dream. She wasn’t on the beach; in fact, she was actually standing up. Right in the middle of a street._

_Houses lined the street on either side of her, not as close together as a normal neighborhood. She was somewhere out in the country, and the air smelled of wet grass and fresh rain. It was cold, too; the air nipped at her skin as she slowly walked forward._

_It was then she realized what felt so wrong: she wasn’t in control of her body. It felt like she was watching as a prisoner in her own mind. She was wearing robes, ones that brushed against her legs. She could feel a wand in her hand, but it didn’t feel like her own. The length and handle were all wrong. She longed to look down and see what kind, but she couldn’t. All she could do was sit there and watch as her body walked forwards._

_Finally, she stopped at a house, just outside the gate. A hand raised to open it, and her heart dropped right to her feet._

_That wasn’t her hand._

_It was pale, deathly so, looking white against the black fabric of the robes she wore. It was also much larger than her own, with long, slender fingers._

_The hand unlatched the gate and she was moving forward again. Something in the house was putting her on edge, but not in a bad way. She felt dark excitement, giddiness even, wash over her as she neared the house, and a man’s face flashed in the window. It was gone before she could focus on it, but she felt recognition. Where had she seen him before?_

_Shouting sounded from inside the house, a man’s voice. It was followed by a woman’s panicked cry, words unintelligible, before loud pounding footsteps faded. She stopped outside the front door, and the pale hand raised, wand clutched between her fingers._

_The door blasted off its hinges, and she was faced with a man. He was in his early twenties, still young, with messy black hair and brown eyes obscured by round glasses. Another bolt of recognition. How did she know him? Why did he look so familiar?_

_It was then she noticed the man had no wand, and for some reason, that amused her. A laugh passed her lips, but it wasn’t her own. This laugh was high, cold, and it sent chills through her body like she’d been dropped headfirst into the Arctic ocean. She didn’t know who’s it was, but it wasn’t her own._

_This wasn’t her body._

_“Step aside.” The same cold, high voice passed through her body, speaking to the man in front of her. But the man didn’t look afraid, not in the slightest._

_“You stay away from them! Don’t come any closer!” He roared, and Addie had to commend his bravery. But it didn’t make much difference._

_The amusement turned to annoyance, and the pale hand rose, wand pointed directly at the man’s chest._

_“Avada Kedavra!”_

_The man dropped, completely still, to the floor. Addie wanted to feel horror, she wanted to be disgusted, she wanted to be terrified of her own actions, or the actions of this person that she was watching this through._

_But she couldn’t feel anything._

_Once the man was dead, she continued up the stairs, anticipation rising in her chest. She wasn’t sure what was waiting for her at the top, but whoever she was in the mind of, all they could think about was reaching their goal._

_At the top of the stairs, two doors were open, and only one was closed. She could hear thuds and scrapes coming from the room, and a dark smirk tugged at her lips._

Silly girl _, the thought passed through her brain and made her jump. It wasn’t her own. Someone else’s thoughts were in her head._

_Approaching the door, she didn’t even bother to try the handle before blowing the door of its hinges, just like the front door. Inside, a woman was standing in front of a crib._

_She was beautiful, whoever she was. She couldn’t have been much older than Addie, around twenty or maybe a little older. Long, thick red hair ran almost to her waist, and two bright green eyes were shining with fear and unshed tears._

_Wait a minute, where had she seen those eyes before?_

_“Please, please don’t!” The woman sobbed, and that same cold annoyance rose in Addie’s chest. She stepped forward._

_“Step aside.” The same cold, high voice, a warning edge to it. The woman shook her head, sobbing harder._

_“Please, not Harry! I’ll do anything, not Harry!”_

_“I said, step aside!”_

_“Please, I’ll do anything!”_

_“Avada Kedavra!”_

_The woman dropped to the ground, body going still. Her eyes, now lifeless, stared blankly at the wall of the room._

_And showed what she had originally been standing in front of._

_A baby crib, and in it was a child. He couldn’t have been older than a year, with dark hair and green eyes that reminded her of the man and woman._

_Wait…_

_The cold, pale hand raised the wand, a vicious type of satisfaction settling into her chest when she realized what was about to happen. She was going to kill him; she was going to kill this baby, and then all her problems would be solved._

_The baby raised his green eyes, completely clueless and innocent, staring at her in confusion._

_“Avada Kedavra!”_

_A bolt of unimaginable pain shot through her body…_

…and she bolted upright, a scream dying on her lips.

She looked around her room, panting. It felt like she’d just gotten done with one of Chiron’s obstacle courses, complete with a close-combat duel at the end. Her breathing was ragged, chest aching, and she felt like she was about to puke. As she shifted, she realized both her skin and the sheets around her were soaked with sweat.

She reached out, grabbing onto her wristwatch, and raised it to her face. In the faint light of the moon, coming through her window, she saw the time.

Just past two in the morning.

Standing, she stumbled towards her bathroom and twisted the bathtub faucets, turning on the water as hot as it would go. She sat perched on the edge of the tub as it filled, leg bouncing, chewing on her thumbnail. Her heart was still racing and her hands were twitching.

Once the tub was filled to the brim, she stripped off her sweat-soaked nightgown and slipped into the water, not bothered by the boiling temperature or the water spilling over the edges. Leaning back, she allowed herself to slowly slide under the surface. It wasn’t the ocean, which was where she normally went after particularly bad dreams, but it was water.

As she sat there, submerged, she realized something with a jolt.

_That was the murder of Harry Potter’s parents._

_Was I watching that through the eyes of the man that killed them?_

_…was that Voldemort?_

“So, I’ve been thinking-” Addie began, looking up from her stack of student essay’s they were grading.

“Oh, dear, I hope you haven’t hurt yourself.” Snape interrupted without looking up from his work. She paused, jaw clenching. She really wanted to come back at him with something good, something that involved his nose or his hair or even just his face in general, but she was exhausted. After her nightmare last night, she had managed to get maybe another two hours.

Nonconsecutively. 

“ _Anyway,_ ” she said through gritted teeth, “I was thinking, and something occurred to me: why would Quirrell set such a huge trap?”

Snape didn’t look up from his paperwork, but his motions did slow, showing her that he was listening. She continued.

“I mean, there are much quieter ways to take someone out. And he could have easily made any number of things look like an accident, so why use such a huge diversion like a troll?”

“Are you going anywhere with this?”

“Yes. Unlike you, I don’t just love the sound of my own voice.” She snapped, and he sneered at her as she continued. “Look, my point is: what if the troll wasn’t originally a trap? What if he genuinely thought it would work, and he’d get the stone?”

That made him pause, now fully turning to look at her as she continued.

“That means that Voldemort would be angry, right? His servant failed.”

Snape now set his quill down, leaning back in his seat. “And he would be furious, yes. Knowing the Dark Lord, he would want to keep a closer eye on things.”

Something cold settled in Addie’s stomach, and she wanted to tell him about her nightmare, but something stopped her. She didn’t know this man that well, not yet. Plus, what if the dream was a sign of something much darker at play? What if it hadn’t just been a freak nightmare, what if it had been an actual memory of the world’s most dangerous wizard?

“Are you saying he’s here? In the school?”

Snape hummed, then shook his head. “It’s difficult to say. Hogwarts is home to the only wizard he ever feared, the headmaster. And if he’s here, why hasn’t he made a move on the boy yet?”

“ _The boy_ has a name.” She reminded him, mostly to push his buttons, then leaned over and grabbed the library book that was sitting on the edge of his desk. “And speaking of him; did you confiscate this from him?”

Snape huffed, standing to walk over to the shelf containing medical supplies. “He’s a Gryffindor, they’re known for being careless. I’m sure if I hadn’t, he would have ruined it.”

“Yeah,” she told him, raising it to read the title, “and I know how much you care about books on Quidditch.”

His scowl deepened, if that was even possible, and he raised his leg on a chair, rolling up his pant leg and moving to unwind the bandages. She did her best to continue to work on grading the essays but watching his sloppy movements and rough handling of the wound just set her on edge. Finally, she scoffed and strode over to him.

“Stop, stop,” she ordered, smacking his hands away, “you’re going to give yourself an infection. Just, let me.” She grabbed a fresh roll of bandages and a vial of disinfecting potion, drizzling a few drops over the bite marks and rewrapping them.

“I didn’t peg you as a healer.” He noted, and she raised her eyes to see him watching her in confusion and suspicion. She shrugged, thinking carefully about her response as her attention returned to the task at hand.

“Yeah, well, the… foster home I was raised in had a lot of kids, and we were all pretty stupid. I’ve taken care of a lot of bites, cuts, bruises, broken bones, you name it. We lived on a large thing of land, so the homes… administrators taught us first aid just in case someone got hurt but weren’t close enough to call for help.”

“I thought you said you knew your father?”

Her fingers froze, and she cursed herself. _Explain your way out of this one, dumbass._ She mentally chided, and she shrugged.

“Yeah, well, he’s not winning any father of the year awards.” She brushed off, unable to keep the note of bitterness out of her tone. She dropped the bloody, ruined bandage on the desk next to him. “That dog really did a number on your leg.” She switched topics, praying he wouldn’t question her sudden diversion.

He didn’t. “Blasted thing.” He cursed, observing the newly wrapped wound. “How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?”

A creaking caused both of their heads to snap towards the doorway, and Addie shot out of her seat seeing Harry Potter standing there, the door slightly ajar, green eyes wide that he’d just been caught.

_“POTTER!”_

Addie raised a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose as Snape dropped his robes, covering the freshly wrapped wound. The boy stuttered, eyes flickering between the two teachers.

“I just wanted to know if I could get my book back.”

_“GET OUT! OUT!”_

He ran off, scurrying away like a threatened mouse, and Addie dropped her hand. Turning to face her mentor, she smirked.

“You have a real way with children, did you know that?”

“You, too. Out.”

_Dear Chiron,_

_I wanted to call you on IM, but it’s hard to find a private spot here that includes a rainbow. I tried to my bathroom, but the connection was so bad Lady Iris wouldn’t even accept my offering. I hope you get this soon._

_Chiron, I need you to tell me what you sheltered me from. I’m having nightmares, reliving memories that aren’t mine, and it’s scaring me. I’m not sleeping, I feel like someone is watching me at all times. Can you please tell me what is happening? Did you know this is what was waiting for me when I came here?_

_My father visited me on my first night here, in a dream. He warned me he ‘couldn’t protect me anymore’. Do you know what he meant? Did he tell you?_

_How is camp? Is everyone ok? How is Mr. D? I want to know everything; I miss you guys like crazy. I especially miss Percy, but he seems like he’s doing ok. I know you haven’t been able to keep in contact with him as regularly, but I think you’ll be proud to know that he’s passing his classes just fine and Annabeth seems to be doing really well, too. They’re sending me pictures, and it’s funny to see how tall they’re both getting. They’ll have surpassed me in no time._

_Please write me back. You’re the only one I can think of to ask for help._

_With love,_

_Adrasteia_

It was a few weeks after the disastrous first Quidditch match, the one where Harry was nearly thrown from his broom at fifty feet in the air. Addie was sitting in front of the fire, clad in a pink nightgown and sucking on a sugar quill while she wrote her former mentor.

The demigoddess had been having that same nightmare every few nights, waking up screaming and covered in sweat. It was awful; the entire dream, she was stuck in the body of an evil, sociopathic wizard, unable to feel anything but blood thirst and vicious giddiness at the thought of eliminating a young, innocent family. When she finally woke up, it was like a mental dam had been broken and she was hit with enough terror and horror to make her feel like her heart had physically stopped. A few nights ago, it had been intense she’d nearly had an emotional breakdown. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could bear it.

They weren’t getting better; if anything, they only seemed to be getting more and more intense. She couldn’t think of anyone to turn to, because Chiron would only be able to tell her that a demigod dream never meant anything good. She couldn’t tell any of the staff because she’d be under immediate scrutiny, and that was the very last thing she needed.

_Can I just avoid evil dictators? Is that too much to ask?_

She would be going to Percy’s apartment tomorrow; she’d leave Hogwarts to Floo from the Ministry of Magic to MACUSA, then apparate to his apartment. She was already nervous; meeting the mother of her half-brother while she was the child of her former lover. The whole thing made her head hurt. As she stood to get into bed, her eyes fell on the small pile of gifts on her counter.

She’d gone into Hogsmeade to get them the week prior; they were for the rest of the staff. A small assortment of candy and supplies for most of the teachers, but she’d gotten Minerva, Snape, and Dumbledore individual gifts. While she in no way liked the potions professor nor she did she enjoy his company too much, he was the reason she’d gotten out of camp and would most likely have a job. Addie was a lot of things, but ungrateful wasn’t one of them.

She’d gotten Minerva a new set of gloves with a matching scarf, each one with blazing red and gold. Dumbledore was getting an assortment of candy she’d had Annabeth mail to her, since she knew he had a thing for the muggle kind. And Snape was getting a new leatherbound notebook for inventory. His current one was nearly in pieces.

That night, she counted the ticks of the clock as she tried to fall asleep, praying for a dreamless rest.

It was getting late, and she had a lot of travel the next day.

The crowd of students were loudly and excitedly discussing their plans to go home for the holidays, moving out the door to the train station. Addie was clad in warm, No-Maj clothes for travel of a faded pair of skinny jeans and a thick wool sweater. Her duffel bag was packed for the week, and she was incredibly excited to see Percy again.

But she had a stop to make before Dumbledore’s office.

The dungeons were freezing, and she shivered as her boots scraped against the stone floors. Snape’s door was closed, as it usually was, but she only knocked twice before stepping through.

“May I ask the point of knocking if you’re not going to wait for an invitation, Matthews?” The potions professor drawled from the shelf of supplies, not bothering to look at her as he set up ingredients.

“I’m happy to just start kicking the door down if you feel like the knock isn’t loud enough.” She told him casually, smirking when his shoulders tensed.

“What is it? I figured you would be on your way to New York by now.”

“I am.” She confirmed, letting her duffel bag slide onto the floor. He turned at this, watching as she walked closer, glancing back towards the door and listening for any noise outside of it before turning back to him. “But I figured we should talk about what happened at the match before I leave. Does Harry still think you’re going after the stone?”

Snape snorted derisively, rolling his eyes as he waved his wand and set up several more bottle of porcupine quills. “Of course he does; he’s convinced I’ve tricked you into assisting me, as well, and now he’s recruited Weasley and that Granger girl to help him. He’s just like his father, sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Addie cocked her head to the side, “Is he supposed to be un-concerned that the evil wizard who tried to kill him might be coming back to life?”

“ _Anyway,_ ” the dark-haired man growled, resisting the urge to hex that stupid smirk off the girl’s face, “I’ve decided it best to referee the next Quidditch match after the break. When you’re up in the stands, make sure you keep Quirrell in your line of sight at all times. We have to assume he’s found a way past at least one of the safeguards by now, so he could have anything up his sleeve.”

“Got it.” She told him shortly, then paused, arms folded. “Look, if anything happens, write to me immediately.” She grabbed a piece of parchment on his desk and scribbled down Percy’s apartment, placing it where she knew he’d see it.

“If you’re attempting to hint that I cannot take care of myself or these children, Matthews, I hope you know I’ve been doing this for a very long time.” He told her stiffly, but she ignored him. She was too excited to let him bring her down; the Christmas cheer was too real that year.

“Well, before I go…” She crouched in front of her duffel bag, pulling his gift free as he watched her from the corner of his eye.

She held up the book, then placed it on his desk. “We’re not friends. But I’m not going to let you think I spit in the face of the people who give me opportunities. Merry Christmas.”

She began to zip her bag back up when his voice stopped her. “What is that?”

It wasn’t as snobby or demeaning as it normally was, and she looked up to see him staring at her shoulder. Her sweater, which was already too big for her, had shifted while she was moving around and shown her bare shoulder, the top part of her tattoo on display.

“Oh, I got it when I was seventeen.” She told him off-handedly, not bothering to fix the fabric. “Like I said, I grew up around the ocean. I wanted something to remember it by.”

“You willingly got that on your skin?” He asked, and Addie didn’t bother to hide her eyeroll.

“You’ve got something against tattoo’s, huh?”

“No. I’ve just never…” She turned to him in confusion when he trailed off, but she couldn’t distinguish the look on his face before he shook his head, cutting himself off. “It doesn’t matter.”

His behavior confused her, but she didn’t have time to study it. Instead, she nodded at him and walked off, feeling his eyes on her as she left.

Dumbledore’s office was warm and inviting, and Addie was happy to see the other two people she’d been looking for as she entered.

“Ah, Adrasteia!” Dumbledore greeted, moving from behind his desk. “Happy Christmas!”

“And a _Merry_ Christmas to you, headmaster.” She teased, unzipping her bag as Minerva joined the pair. “I have something for you both.”

“Oh, now, you didn’t have to…” Minerva tried to brush off, but Addie shook her head as she pulled both gifts free.

“No, I did. I believe in returning kindness, it was something my uncle taught me.” She held the scarf and gloves to Minerva. “I thought you’d like the colors, and I’ve put a built-in heating spell. I figured you’d like to flaunt them at the Quidditch game after the break.”

Minerva looked touched and thanked her graciously as she took them. Next, the younger girl held up the gift-wrapped candy. “And for you, headmaster. No-Maj candy.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” He exclaimed, eyes twinkling as he took them. “What kind?”

“I decided to get you some American candy, since I’m not sure if you’ve ever tasted it. There’s M&M’s, Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses, and Sour Gummy Worms.”

The wizard pulled a colorful, sugar-coated worm from the bag and laughed, “Oh, how delightful! These muggles, how fascinating!”

After saying their goodbye’s and well wishes for the holidays, Addie threw down her Floo powder, and in a _fwoosh_ of green fire, she was gone.

_Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea._

44C in gold lettering glared back at her as Addie stood outside the door, tugging at her sleeves. Her heart was pounding, and a part of her wondered if maybe she should just turn around and leave.

_No, you promised Percy!_ She reminded herself, and the thought made her breathing steady, if only slightly. Before she could stop herself or think too much about it, the demiwitch raised her hand and knocked three times.

A quiet, familiar voice faintly exclaimed, “Oh, mom, I think that’s her!” Then soft footsteps approached the door.

The woman who opened it was nothing like Addie was expecting. She didn’t look nearly old enough to have a thirteen-year-old son, despite the few gray strands running through her dark brown hair. As her face went slack with shock at the girl in front of her, Addie was reminded of her little brother.

“Hi.” She greeted awkwardly, fiddling with the strap of her duffel bag. “Um, I’m Addie Matthews. Percy invited me?”

“Oh, um, yes.” The woman exclaimed, shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts. “I’m sorry, Sally Jackson.”

Addie took the woman’s outstretched hand, shaking it firmly. “Very nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“Um, please, please, come in.” Sally ushered her inside, closing the door behind her. “Go ahead and hang your coat right there, and go ahead and take your boots off. You are on vacation after all.”

Addie relaxed slightly at the woman’s humor, and a black-haired blur came running around the corner.

“Addie!”

She barely had time to greet her brother before he hugged her, nearly knocking her off her feet. She couldn’t help but laugh, wrapping her arms around the younger boy. As she did, she noticed how much taller he was than she’d last seen him. Instead of barely being at her shoulder, he was now a little taller than her jaw.

“My gods, Perc, look at you!” She exclaimed as they pulled back, “Look how tall you’ve gotten! And you cut your hair!”

“Yeah,” he told her, reaching up to finger the short black curls, “Mom made me.”

“Well, you would let your hair grow like mine if I didn’t.” Sally teased, watching the two siblings with an ever-growing smile.

“Come on!” Percy told her, motioning for her to follow him, “Mom made blue sugar cookies and blue hot cocoa!”

“…did you say blue hot cocoa?”

“Yeah, you’ll love it!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, bit of a filler, but still important! Why is Addie seeing things from Voldemort's pov? Why is it happening just now?  
> Next up: lots of fluffy sibling bonding cause I love it


	10. SHOPPING, KAREN, AND VIGILANTE JUSTICE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addie's hair/makeup: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/13370130132356995/   
> Addie's outfit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/914862398268707/

Addie’s eyes slowly peeled open, blinking in confusion at the unfamiliar ceiling above her.

That wasn’t the drapes of her bed.

Her heart jumped, and she bolted into a sitting position, fingers flying to her necklace. But as her hand made contact with Storm, her mind clicked. That was right, she was in Percy and Sally’s apartment in New York.

Sally had set her up nicely with their fold out couch and some incredibly warm and cozy quilts. She’d eaten dinner with them, telling them some (slightly altered) stories about work. Percy already hated Snape, and repeatedly told her the man sounded like a watered-down Dracula. Sally had lightly slapped him with a dish towel, but she couldn’t hide the smile tugging at her lips.

It was the first time going to sleep that Addie actually fell asleep within an hour, filled with delicious food and laughing and talking with a family.

As she stood and yanked a sweatshirt on over her tank top, she also realized it was the first night in a long time she’d gone without any nightmares. The thought immediately increased her mood, and she decided to start some coffee. A small thank you to Sally for letting her stay.

The smell of the steaming morning drink made her sigh in contentment, and she poured a generous amount of sugar in before leaning back against the counter, watching the snow fall outside the window in the kitchen.

NYC wasn’t always the happiest place on earth, but during the holiday season, it was her favorite. Despite being hidden away at camp for most of her life, Chiron was always compassionate enough to take the students on little field trips (small groups at a time) and let them see the sights of the largest city in the world. Not only that, but it just felt so good to be home.

The soft padding of bare feet against the floorboards told Addie that someone was awake, and judging by the volume of the footsteps, it was Sally.

Sure enough, the older woman stepped into the kitchen and immediately made a beeline for the coffee pot. Her brown hair was pulled into a messy bun and she was wearing an over-sized T-shirt that read _Kingsborough Community College_ in bold black letters.

The two women greeted each other slightly, Sally’s voice noticeably more tired as she poured herself a large, steaming mug and added a substantial amount of creamer. Shuffling forward, she leaned against the counter next to Addie.

“Percy’s not awake yet?” The younger woman asked, and Sally chuckled into her mug.

“Ever since that boy turned thirteen, it’s a miracle if he wakes up before noon by himself.” She responded, shaking her head. They sat in silence for a few seconds before she spoke up again. “He’s really excited to have you here, you know.”

Addie couldn’t stop the twitching of her own lips as she responded, “Yeah. I’ve missed him, too. I never thought I would get a sibling.”

The statement seemed to increase the awkwardness in the air, and Addie mentally slapped herself. _Nice one, genius. Now all she can think about is the father of her child being someone else’s baby daddy._

“You know, you look like him.”

Addie turned her head so fast towards Sally some hair hit her in the face, and she stared at the woman in surprise. “What?”

“Percy’s- er, I mean, your father. When I first opened the door, I was really surprised. You…” she trailed off, fingers the handle of her mug. “You hold yourself like him. Ironically, I compared him to the sea the first time I met him. So calm and smooth, very beautiful and eye-catching, and yet you can’t help but wonder what’s going on in his mind.”

Addie couldn’t speak. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the observation, as she’d never been compared to her father before. Poseidon was clearly powerful and well-known, something she strived for herself almost every day, but she wanted to be known and powerful by her own name.

Before she could think of a response, loud footsteps walked towards them and then Percy was stumbling into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. Even with his new haircut, the thick black curls were sticking up in crazy directions. He rubbed his eyes, looking between his mother and half-sister.

“Oh, sweet, coffee. Can I have some?”

Sally merely cocked an eyebrow at her son, “If you want to brew some decaf, you can.”

The hopeful look on his face dropped, and he grumbled a little as he grabbed a bowl out of the cabinet and dumped some Lucky Charms in it. “So, you work today, right mom?”

“That’s right, sweetie.”

“Would it be ok if Addie and I went out to the city today? I bet we could pick up some more decorations for the apartment.”

Addie nearly asked how in the world the small space could possibly be decorated more, but her little brother looked so hopeful, she kept her opinions to herself as Sally nodded.

“Sure, that’s fine. Just make sure you don’t lock yourself out again this time.”

“Don’t worry, Sally.” Addie reassured her, “I promise I’ll keep an eye on him.”

The older woman looked satisfied with that answer, and for some reason, her belief that her son would be safe in his older sisters hands made Addie feel a little bit better.

A few hours later, Sally had left for work and the two siblings were on their way to the village. Both were bundled warmly against the frigid cold, and Percy rolled his eyes as Addie grabbed a scarf for him.

“Dee, I’m fine. I haven’t worn a scarf since I was six.”

“Yeah, well, I told your mom I’d keep an eye on you.” She reminded him, making sure to wrap the scarf around so it covered all exposed skin of his neck and ears. “Plus, you hardly ever think about safety, so that leaves me. I don’t want to take you the ER with your ear in a baggie just cause you don’t like layers.”

“Ok, ok, ok.” The younger teen groaned, then nodded at the door. “Can we go, please?”

“Alright, keep your pants on.”

Despite the freezing weather, the two had a blast. First, they started off with some hot chocolate from this little food truck Percy knew about. Next, they jumped in a taxi and took off for Rockefeller Center, armed with a little camera Sally had insisted they bring along.

“For memories!” She’d told them indignantly, writing a note to herself on the fridge to get prints for Addie before she had to leave again. Though the two had pretended to accept it reluctantly, the were soon laughing and taking funny pictures in front of the large tree. Silly faces, pretending to fall into the three, and Percy secretly giving his older sister bunny ears before they decided to go window shopping at the best Christmas store in the world: Macy’s.

The gargantuan store stretched up ten stories and took up an entire city block. And it was one of the few places in the city that Addie had never set foot in. The two walked inside, determined to finish some Christmas shopping and buy some lights for the windows in the apartment.

But the crowd inside nearly separated them the second they walked through the door. It was filled with people, bumping into each other and avoiding eye contact as they all rushed between stores. It was the day before Christmas Eve, and people were frantically finishing their shopping. Addie would have judged them, but she herself was still stuck on what to get Sally; she had no idea what the woman liked.

“Ok,” Percy started, grabbing a guide, “we could start with the shopping, or the sight-seeing. Which one do you want to do first?”

“How about we just window shop and see how we feel?”

That was the thing about being ADHD; sticking to a well-set plan was like trying to stick tape on a wet surface. Sure, they might follow it for a few minutes, but they’d eventually fall away to something else. So, the two began to wander, checking out different stores and taking more pictures. The store was decorated to the nines, filled with all sorts of lights, bows, Christmas trees and people dressed like elves. There was even a man playing Santa, and Addie teasingly pushed her brother towards the line to take a picture. His face was beet red, and he ducked under her hand, grabbing onto her arm and pulling her away. The two were soon giggling hysterically as they tried on sunglasses Burberry, doing their best to avoid the store employees.

Up next was Gucci, but it wasn’t as exciting as they were hoping. It mostly filled with things they could never dream of affording, and it was clothes for wearing day to day! The prices were enough to send Addie’s jaw to the floor.

Once they got to the shoe store, Addie was eyeing a pair of velvety black thigh-high boots as Percy shifted from foot to foot beside her.

“Geez, Dee, do you really need more shoes? You’ve already got a pair of on!”

“Um, excuse me,” his older sister sassed back, pointing to the gray ankle boots, “these are vintage, ok? And I’ve had them for years, they’re starting to fall apart.”

“Why do you even want heels? You can’t fight in them.”

“No, _you_ can’t fight in them. I fight just as well, and they show off my legs.”

The younger boy’s face screwed up at the thought of someone ogling his older sister, then he groaned. “Ugh, well how much longer?”

“Perc, if you’re so bored, go look at the juniors section. They’ve got some nice ones in your size.”

Once the boy had walked off, Addie spent another ten minutes deciding between the thigh-high’s and a pair of Azalea Wang heeled booties before finally deciding on the taller pair. She _did_ like how they made her legs and ass look, after all. Selecting her size, she went looking for her brother, eyes searching the crowd for the head of dark hair and sun-tanned skin.

Sure enough, she found him standing in front of a selection of junior’s shoes, eyeing one pair in particular. It was a pair of black and white basketball high tops, and he was smiling just slightly, turning one shoe over in his hands. She couldn’t help but notice the size he selected was a little bit bigger than what he had on. The thought made her frown.

_Did he have the size wrong, or is he_ wearing _the wrong size?_

“You like these?” She asked from behind him, and the boy jumped, fumbling not to drop the shoe. Upon seeing his sister, he relaxed slightly, then gestured to the sticker.

“Yeah, but no way am I paying a hundred bucks for something that’s going to fall apart anyway.” He told her, laughing. But his eyebrows were drawn down, and the left side of his jaw was clenching and unclenching. His laugh sounded way too forced, and his hand lingered too long on the shoe as he set it down. Addie bit her lip.

He wanted those shoes.

“Hey, why don’t you wait for me while I buy these boots?” She suggested, holding up the velvety pair. “The line is kind of long.”

“Yeah, good point. I’ll go check out the Arcade.”

Addie watched her brother carefully before snatching up his size of shoe and making a beeline for the counter. After paying, she shifted the shoe box into her own bag, hoping Percy wouldn’t know enough about shoes to question why the bag was so large.

He didn’t. “Ok, now can we _please_ get to the food court? I’m _starving!”_

They had only just eaten, but the boy was clearly going through a growth spurt. They stopped in front of the pretzel store, the steaming smell enough to make their mouths water. Up ahead of them, an older woman with short blonde hair was standing next to her husband as they got in line.

“We should extra dipping sauce.” Percy told her bluntly, “Cause I plan on using all of one container for only half of my first pretzel.”

“Oh, your _first_ pretzel?” She teased, “Who said I was buying you multiple? You’re going to get huge if you don’t develop good eating habits.”

“I’m a growing boy.” He told her smugly, reaching up to place a hand on his head then drawing an invisible line with it to her eye. “I’ll have passed you soon.”

“ _Tha fas xilo!”_ She warned him, swatting his hand down, but her lips twitched up into a playful smirk. “Don’t forget-“

“Excuse me, but you need to speak English.”

The high-pitched voice interrupted the two, and they both turned to see the woman in front of them had now turned around and was watching them with narrowed blue eyes. Her clearly dyed blonde hair was cut into a familiar haircut, and Addie wanted to groan.

_Oh, wonderful. Karen._

“What?” Percy asked before she could react, confused as to why the adult was butting into their conversation. The woman raised her eyebrows.

“You. Need. To. Speak. English.” She repeated slowly, as if speaking to a child, and Addie stepped forward, anger beginning to bubble in her gut.

“Hey, don’t talk to him like that, this is a private conversation.”

“Well, you’re in public, ma’am. That means you need to speak a language that everyone understands. This isn’t Africa or wherever the hell you came from.”

Addie turned to see Percy growing more confused and angry, and he stepped up next to his sister.

“Hey, we were raised here! We can speak whatever language we like!” He growled, and several people turned to watch them. Addie placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Perc, stop, she’s not worth it. Let her be ignorant, we’ll just go somewhere else for food.”

“No, you said you wanted a pretzel!” Percy protested, but she dragged him away, unable to stop the feelings of fury and humiliation that were now clawing up her chest. Once they were far enough away and had stopped in front of a McDonalds, Percy turned to her in frustration.

“Why didn’t you say anything? She can’t talk to us like that!”

“Percy, that’s enough. I don’t want to have to deal with the security guards, ok? If things had gotten worse, that woman would have started making a big scene.” She whispered to him, nodding at the pair of uniformed men that were standing by the entrance of the food court. “It’s not worth it; trust me.”

He didn’t look convinced, but upon seeing how upset his sister looked, he dropped the subject. The two tried to eat their food in peace and continue to have fun, Addie doing her best to distract her little brother from what had just happened. They only had two weeks together, and she didn’t want it ruined by racist white women and their husbands. Luckily, his attention switched to food pretty quickly, and soon they were done.

The day was slowly winding to a close, and Addie still had no idea what to get Sally. Percy told her the woman always asked for things relating to her work or to her writing; new sensible shoes for her uniform, a new Microsoft package containing Word, Excel, etc. But none of those felt quite right, and as they were passing Zales, a lightbulb went on over the girl’s head.

“Percy, how much jewelry does your mom have?”

The boy stopped, raising his eyebrows. “Um, I’m not sure. Not a lot?”

“Well, what does she like? Earrings? Necklaces? Bracelets?”

His green eyes were blank, and he looked very lost. “I don’t know. Why?”

“Well, I thought I’d get her something nice, like a bracelet or a necklace to wear when she’s going out.”

“Why would she want that?”

Addie felt her eyes roll all the way to back of her head, and she grabbed his shoulder, steering him into the jewelry store. “Come on. One last stop, I think I know what your mom would like. Do you know her favorite color?”

Unsurprisingly, Sally’s favorite color was a deep shade of cobalt blue, almost the same color of the ocean. Addie looked carefully over the selection of lockets, frowning at the heart-shaped ones. The older woman seemed a little too mature for that. Her eyes fell to a small display of circular, silver ones.

Bingo.

“Percy, how about this?” She called him over from where he was half-heartedly looking over some watches, pointing to a sparkling silver one with a deep blue sapphire set right in the middle. The identical one next to it was open, showing that it could hold a round picture. And Addie knew just the one to put inside it.

“I’ll take this one, please.” She told the man behind the counter. He nodded.

“Very good, ma’am. Let me get the boxed product from the back.” Once he left, Addie smiled at Percy.

“Do you still have those really small pictures of you when you were a kid you told me about?”

“Yeah?”

“Good. When we get home, make sure your mom doesn’t-“

“Excuse me, miss?”

Two security guards were suddenly standing in front of her, faces drawn into cold expressions. Addie straightened, eyes narrowing as their gazes moved to the bags she was holding.

“Yes?”

“We’ve received a call about a possible thievery, we’ll need to search your things.”

It felt like her heart had dropped right to her stomach; why was this happening now? Percy was looking back and forth between them, confusion and anger returning. What the hell were they talking about? Addie would _never_ -

His train of thought was interrupted when a familiar blonde head stepped up by the security guards, wrinkled face looking proud and a little smug.

“Is this the shopper you were describing, ma’am?” The security guard asked her, and Addie’s fist clenched when the woman nodded.

“Yep, that’s her. I saw her steal some jewelry and dump it in her bag, right when she walked in the door.”

“What?! No, I didn’t!” Addie cried, indignation and rage flaring up inside her. “You can check the security cameras, I didn’t do anything!”

“Ma’am, please give us your bags.” The larger guard ignored her, stepping forward to grab her stuff. But she stepped back, pulling them away.

“No, you have no reason to-“

But she didn’t even get to finish her sentence. The other guard reached up and latched tightly onto her arm, fingers digging into her skin hard enough to leave bruises. His partner reached forward and ripped her shopping bags and purse from her hands, turning around to dump them on the jewelry counter.

Percy jumped forward, green eyes blazing, hand moving towards his pocket. It was stupid, Riptide wouldn’t do anything to mortals; but when he saw his sister being hurt, he didn’t really think before he reacted.

“Hey, don’t touch her!” He roared, but Addie merely raised a hand, struggling to remain calm as the guard began to dump their stuff all over the counter and sift through it.

“Relax, Perc, we haven’t done anything.” She told him in a tight voice. The guard’s fingers on her arm were making her more and more agitated; her demigod reflexes were screaming at her to reach up and flip this man over her shoulder and smack his spine against the edge of the counter, but A) she couldn’t hurt a mortal and B) that would give him and his partner the right to move to more excessive force. That would mean Percy would get caught in the crossfire.

Sure enough, there was nothing in their things. The guard haphazardly threw their stuff back into the bags, crumpling clothes and even spilling a bottle of nail polish into Addie’s purse due to his carelessness. “There’s nothing there.” He turned to the woman, demeanor softening. “Thank you for the tip, ma’am.”

“Oh, no problem, sir. I just want to make sure to do my part as a citizen. We are responsible for each other’s safety, after all.” She responded sweetly, and the two guards left without another word. She turned to survey the siblings, cocking her head to the side.

“You might want to brush through those curls, honey. They’re a bit askew.” And then she turned and strutted out of the store.

Addie’s ears were burning in humiliation as she fixed her coat, feeling everyone in the store’s eyes on her as the clerk hesitantly approached them, having watched everything from behind the counter.

“I have the necklace you requested, ma’am. I’ve packaged it for you.” He told her softly, but she didn’t want to see the pity in his eyes. It just pissed her off more.

She tried to ignore everyone around her, grabbing her money and paying him as quickly as she could. Once it was done, she grabbed Percy’s arm and steered him away, feeling more angry and frustrated than she had in a very long time.

“Why did you let them do that?” Her younger brother demanded, green eyes rippling in anger. “They can’t treat you like that! And that woman; how could you let her get away with that?”

“Get away with _what_ , Perc?” She shot back, unable to hold her tongue. She just wanted to get back to the apartment and forget the whole day ever happened. “All she did was call security, they followed up, it happens.”

“No, it doesn’t happen!” He nearly shouted, “The only reason she did that is- is because-“

“Because what?” Addie suddenly snapped, whirling around to face him. He didn’t answer, moving to look down at his shoes. She pursed her lips, then nodded.

“It’s happened, Percy.” She explained quietly, chest feeling cold. “And it will happen again, several more times. I should have been more careful, I should have spoken English instead of Greek-“

“No, don’t do that!” He told her forcefully, “Don’t blame yourself, that was wrong!”

“Look, you don’t have to tell me it’s wrong, I know it is! And I hate it, ok, I hate it _so much._ But there’s nothing we can do, it’s not like I can have her arrested for being racist. Just- just drop it, ok?”

“No, we have to do something-!”

“Look, there’s nothing more to it, Perseus!” She suddenly shouted, then calmed down when several people stared. Leaning forward, she nodded ahead of them. “I just want to go home and we can decorate, alright? Please just stop bringing it up.”

Before he could respond, she was walking off. Her shoulders were slumped instead of pulled back like they normally were, and her gaze was on the floor. Seeing his heroic, strategic, confident older sister suddenly so downcast and embarrassed both floored and enraged him, and he looked around, feeling his temper rise.

But he stopped.

There was the woman, the racist woman that had ruined their day. She was standing at a kiosk with her husband, shouting at the poor employee. Percy looked back to see Addie had turned around, impatiently waving him towards her.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave, he couldn’t let Addie think this was the end of it. So, he only shook his head then gestured to the woman.

More importantly, to the water fountain right next to her.

Addie’s eyes widened, and she started to shake her head at him, but the young hero wasn’t even looking at her anymore. He thought about how that woman had made his sister feel, the one who had saved his life and kept him from getting killed, the one who had show him the ocean creatures while surfing and taught him how to sword fight better than Luke ever did. The one who had been stuck at camp, completely alone with no siblings, for over ten years. And she had just been treated like some petty thief for no other reason than her skin color.

The waves roared in his ears, his stomach tugged, and then the water fountain gave a loud _pop!_ A piece of it flew in the air, and a stream of water shot out and hit the old woman right in the face.

She shrieked loudly, swatting at the water as it quickly soaked her clothes. Her husband leapt forward to try and help her, but another stream of water slapped him right in the face with enough force to send him to the floor.

Addie’s hand was soon on his shoulder, breaking his concentration, and the water stopped. But the whole floor had ben soaked around the couple, and as they struggled to stand, they were slipping and sliding all over the floor, falling again and again. The woman’s heavy, cheap makeup was running all down her face, and she was screaming curse words in anger about how she was going to sue Macy’s.

Addie had grabbed his shoulder frantically, but when he turned to see her, she was watching the couple with her lips twitching, face alight with previously forgotten humor. She was struggling to hold back her giggles, and Percy smiled.

Her brown eyes fell on his green ones, and she closed them, shaking her head. “Percy…”

“They can’t treat you like that. No one can, and no one will, not when I’m with you. I promise.” He told her vehemently, face holding so much more vitriol and strength than a thirteen-year-olds ever should.

Addie bit her lip, eyes burning. Leaning forward, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug.

More cries interrupted them, though, and she pulled away to see the security running over, looking extremely confused and frantic as they tried to pull the couple to their feet. Unfortunately for them, they were slipping and sliding too, landing heavily on the floor. A snort left Addie’s lips as she watched the one who had manhandled her hit the floor pretty hard slip so violently his legs went up in the air, shouting in pain as his back met the tile.

“Come on,” she told Percy, keeping her arm around his shoulder as they began to speed walk away.

“And please don’t mention this to your mom, ok?”


	11. I DREAMED A DREAM

The familiar scent of fresh parchment, ink, potions ingredients and the dungeons themselves wafted into Addie’s nose as she waved her wand, setting up for their class.

Snape was at the board, a piece of chalk writing instructions on its own for the potion the students would be brewing that class as he looked over a Master Brewing textbook with narrowed eyes. True to form, he’d said all of five words to her since she’d returned to Hogwarts. Four of those had been telling her what he needed done for the lesson.

But the young woman couldn’t focus on that. Her weeks spent with Percy and Sally had ended too soon, leading to firm hugs and promises to see them that summer at least once.

However, nothing could have prepared her for her first night back.

That nightmare was the most vivid, realistic, terror-inducing version she’d ever been subjected to. She’d woken up, thrashing violently and a scream caught in her throat. Her legs were so tangled in her sheets, her skin so soaked in sweat that she ended up rolling out of her bed. She’d hit the floor hard enough to bruise her shoulder and her hip, and had barely managed to scramble to the toilet in time before she retching violently, body convulsing.

It was on the cold bathroom floor that she drifted off to sleep again, exhausted and disheartened all at the same time. When she awoke to the vibrating and beeping from her wand, she felt and looked like the walking dead.

_Where were these nightmares coming from? Should she go to someone for help? Why hadn’t Chiron written her back?_

“Ms. Matthews!”

The book she’d been levitating to the last desk fell to the floor with a loud _thud!_ and she turned with wide eyes to see Snape glaring at her, exasperation painted over his face.

“Thank you for joining me back in reality.” He sneered, waving his wand and lowering the chalk from its furious writing. “I was just telling you I think it would be wise if you were present for the next Quidditch match in a few weeks time; while I’m keeping an eye on the boy, you’ll need to be keeping an eye on Quirrell.”

“Like I can get rid of him.” She muttered, reaching up to flick a stray curl out of her face. “He’s always staring; it’s starting to freak me out.”

“I’m sure both he and his master are onto us.” Snape surmised, raising a hand to his jaw in concentration. “The Dark Lord knows of my own skills, but you are more of ‘wild card’, so to speak.”

“Then he-“ her response cut off as something occurred to her, and she turned to Snape, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Wait. You just said Voldemort knows about your skills. Why does he know you?”

Her question was either incredibly intelligent or incredibly stupid, because Snape froze in his work and turned to her, lips turning into a snarl and his eyes going to slits.

“I don’t think that any of your concern, is it, Miss Matthews?”

And that was the last they spoke, ignoring each other for the rest of the class.

Class had gone about how it always went. Snape spent the two hours torturing Harry and pushing poor Neville closer and closer to the edge of an absolute breakdown. Addie, who was more than a little put off by his rudeness, spent that time repairing Neville’s confidence to the best of her abilities and assigning points where she felt they were deserved. Hermione was beaming at the end of class when she was awarded five points for brewing the potion correctly.

Once the bell had rung, Neville was no longer near tears, and was talking to Addie with some excitement on the improvement of his grade. Snape was ignoring everyone, occasionally sneering at students who approached with questions, but answering none the less.

“Thanks for all your help, Professor Matthews!” Neville called out, waving goodbye to the young teacher as he gathered his books and bag. Addie looked up from where she was collecting textbooks with her wand.

“Have a nice day, Neville.” She told him warmly, watching as the boy left the classroom with a noticeably happier mood than when he first came in.

“Professor Matthews?”

Hermione Granger was standing in front of her, fiddling with her bag and looking a little unsure. Addie set down the stack of books she’d been levitating and turned her attention to the young girl.

“Yes, Ms. Granger?”

“Um, I was wondering if you could help me with something. I’m a little confused about something I’ve been researching.”

“Ok.” Addie agreed, motioning the girl over to sit with her at a table near the front. Snape was in his storage room, obviously doing his very best to ignore the two girls.

“What class is it for?”

“Well, it’s not for a class.” Hermione told her, a little hesitantly. “I- I’m researching it for my own interests, you see.”

“Researching for your own interests.” Addie repeated, unable to stop the smile that tugged at her lips. The ambition and never-ending curiosity behind the girls wide, brown eyes made Addie’s heart tug in recognition. An amused, nostalgic chuckle pushed past her lips before she could stop it.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Addie assured the girl, a small smile still present on her face, “you just remind me a lot of someone I know. Anyway,” she pulled the attention off of herself, “what did you want to show me?”

“Well, it’s for this book I’ve been looking at. I’ve looked into Alchemy recently.” Hermione explained, pulling an impossibly large book from her bag. Addie couldn’t stop her eyes from growing wide at the size.

_How the hell was such a tiny girl lugging this thing around?_

“And why are you interested in Alchemy?”

“I- I enjoy looking up as much as I can about the Wizarding World.” Hermione explained, sounding hesitant and rushed all at once. “I’m muggle born, you see.”

“Yes, I know.” Addie nodded, eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion. Did her sudden interest in Alchemy have anything to do with what was currently residing in Hogwarts basement, kept safe from the most dangerous wizard known to mankind? “But what’s got you interest in Alchemy in particular?”

The girl’s cheeks colored, and she stammered as Addie merely raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh, it’s- it’s um, I- I just find it very fascinating, I guess.”

“Uh-huh.” Addie responded, smirking. “What do you need?”

Hermione looked relieved the pressure has been taken off, even just slightly, and flipped the book open. “Well, there’s this ingredient that is said to have been used quite a bit in Alchemy a few hundred years ago, but it’s not often taught here in Europe. It says in here it’s a very common topic of discussion in the States; demigod’s blood?”

Addie’s muscles went rigid, her skin turning to ice. Her fingers flew to Storm out of reflex, though she didn’t pull it out of her cloak and let the younger girl see it. She let the pads of her fingers run across the point of the shark tooth, fighting to keep her breathing normal.

“Well, that’s because it’s not _real,_ Ms. Granger.” She admonished, forcing a blank look on her face. “Demigods are myths; they’re believed to be the children that mortal men and women had with gods. The Greek Gods, more specifically.”

“But how can they be a myth?” Hermione looked confused and a little frustrated. “I mean, it says right here that the last time demigod’s blood was used was in the making of the Philosophers Stone!”

“What do you know about the stone, Hermione?” Addie’s voice dropped to suspicion. Hermione’s face went white as she realized her mistake, confirming Addie’s original guess. She, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter thought Snape was going after the stone, and most likely that she was as well.

“Miss Granger.”

Snape’s voice interrupted their conversation, and both young women looked up to see the professor standing above them. He looked anything but amused.

“I need my assistant for some very important duties. You should run along and stop bothering adults with your incessant whining.”

The girls face dropped, and Addie raised her glare to Snape before standing with her and helping her gather the large book. Once they were done, Hermione moved to leave but Addie put her hand on her shoulder.

“Ms. Granger,” she started, squeezing the girl’s shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t ever stop looking for answers, ok? Just understand something; never mistake courage for intelligence, ok?”

Hermione looked a bit happier, if not more cautious, and nodded quickly before scurrying off through the doors. Addie waited until she was sure the student was out of earshot before turning around to glower at Snape.

“Do you think you could _not_ be an ass for, I don’t know, maybe five seconds?”

“Well, I’m afraid I had to interrupt.” Snape waved her off, gesturing to the door. “It was obvious the girl was asking you because she and her two idiot friends believe me to be manipulating you.”

Addie tried to calm her heart for a few seconds. It had jumped unpleasantly at the beginning of his sentence. For just one second, she thought he was going to tell her that Hermione had been asking her about demigod’s blood for a very different reason…

But she covered her momentary panic with a scoff, crossing her arms. “Like I’d be stupid enough to be manipulated by _you._ ”

“Oh, yes, everyone knows you to be the epitome of will power.” Snape deadpanned, not even looking at her as he crossed to his desk. “Now, the match is next week. I assume you’ll be in the teachers stand?”

“You don’t have to boss me around and remind me of what I need to do every five seconds.” Addie all but snarled. “I’m a big girl, I know how to handle my own shit.”

“Well, perhaps if you refrained from using such vulgar language, I would consider you to be more mature.” Snape shot back, and Addie only rolled her eyes before stalking off.

“Where are you going?”

“To bed. You wanna follow me there, too, so you can make sure I don’t screw anything up?” She asked sarcastically, but as she turned around to raise her eyebrows at him, she could have sworn she saw a faint pink tint to his cheeks.

“Just be there, Matthews.” He spat, and stalked off towards his storage closet.

It was around midnight. The door to Addie’s small apartment creaked open, and a head filled with dark brown and black ringlets poked through, beautiful brown eyes looking up and down the hallway.

Seeing nothing, Addie slipped out the door, shutting it quietly and locking it before padding silently down the hall and out one of the many side doors of the castle. With another quick look around, she hurried down the small, dirt path that led to the lake. A rocky shore sat waiting for her as she stopped, relief filling her chest at the waves that quietly lapped at the pebbles.

Reaching down, she slipped her feet out of her well-worn boots and her fur-lined cloak. Soon, she was standing in a see-through white dress, clad only in a black bikini underneath.

Walking forward, she shivered in delight as her toes dipped into the icy water, feeling a sense of comfort in her chest as she reached down and untied the dress, letting it side down her arms and legs until it pooled onto the rocks. Continuing forward, she was soon engulfed in the waves.

To any other, the sea would be completely dark and would offer only a blind swim. But to her, she saw the perfect outline of the rocks, and the seaweed. Several grindylows swam around her, pinching her playfully and flipping around in the water. A few baby ones swam in circles around her, proudly showing off tricks. Addie ticked their stomachs playfully, but continued swimming forward.

She lost time of how long she was in there, flipping around in the water and enjoying the feeling of being _home._ But soon, she saw the palest rays of the morning start to filter through the waves.

Reluctantly, she waved goodbye to the grindylow’s and began the swim to shore. Though she was sad to leave, her lungs were starting to ache from filtering the lake water. She only had about another hour left before they tired out and began to demand oxygen. That was the thing about being the child of the Sea God. You could breathe underwater, but only for a certain amount of time. She’d trained in the water and could last about four to five hours without oxygen. After that, though, she began to run the risk of drowning.

As she swam, though, a pale flash out of the corner of her eye caused her to freeze.

A mermaid.

The shark-like tail thrashed in the water, red hair floating around the pale face as it bared its teeth unpleasantly at her. It swam a little closer, looking displeased to be within arm’s reach.

“I thought we agreed not to be near each other.” Addie spoke first, voice warbling slightly in the water. The mermaid sneered again, tail thrashing.

“We did. But I have been asked to deliver a message to you, Daughter of the Sea.”

Something about the way the mermaid spoke made Addie’s blood run a little colder, and she shifted in the water, limbs waving to stay upright.

“Well, what is it?”

“You are not as safe here as you believe you are.”

Addie froze, staring hard at the mermaid. “What do you mean?”

“Your father kept you from this world for a reason. A very important one. Someone here at Hogwarts has been watching you, Daughter of the Sea, and they are waiting for their time to strike.”

“Strike.” Addie repeated the word, the threat, feeling panic and anger in her chest. “They want to kill me?”

“Of course not.” The mermaid scoffed, as if her question was the dumbest one she’d ever heard. “But that does not mean you are safe. One in particular watches for you. He has been waiting for you since you escaped him.”

“Who?” Addie demanded, swimming forward slightly. “I’ve never even met any of these people before! How…” Escaped? She’d never even met anyone in the castle before. A thought dawned on her, and her throat tightened. “Do- do you mean Vo-“

“ _Don’t speak his name here!”_ The mermaid hissed furiously, and the other creatures swimming around them seemed to grow agitated. The floor of the lake also rumbled, as if the squid, (whom Addie was still deciding on a name for) was also irritated and off-put.

“It can’t be him.” Addie denied vehemently, but it felt like she was saying it to herself. “I’ve- I’ve never met him before! How-?”

“I don’t know who it is.” The mermaid told her, now beginning to inch away. “But I have warned you. Now you know. Keep your mind sharp and guarded.”

“Guarded? What-?”

“That is all I’ve been allowed to tell you. My duty is finished.”

And then she was gone.  
  


The day of the Quidditch match was just slightly warmer than it had been that year. Addie could only guess this was what Spring meant in Scotland, seeing as they were approaching March. She hugged her cloak tighter around her, shivering just slightly.

The teacher’s box was filling up quickly. Normally, she sat next to McGonnogall near the microphone so she could laugh and talk with her friend and mentor. But she had a job to do, and that meant sitting in the back, near Quirrell.

The turban-clad professor sat two rows in front of her. He either didn’t notice the demigoddess behind him, or he didn’t care. Addie didn’t bother to announce herself, either. She only sat completely still, eyes flickering to the match as it began before moving back to the threat at hand.

Snape was doing fine. Being unfair and a complete asshole as usual, but still fine. Addie’s gaze would also occasionally move to the players, and the students in the stands. The cheering and the roars of the crowd made the very air seem to vibrate, and it was only then that Addie noticed the gray clouds.

As they got closer, they got darker. Thunder rumbled, matching the cheering of the crowd. But as much as she expected, rain did not fall. Thunder continued to rumble, and it felt… _ominous._ Addie’s hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and her fingers flew to Storm, playing with the shark’s tooth under her cloak as she stared at the sky in confusion.

_Was the Lord of the Sky messing with her?_

Right then, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and at the same time, her head _exploded_ in pain.

Stabbing, white hot, intense enough to make her want to puke. Lights flashed before her eyes and she opened her mouth to cry out, but it got stuck in her throat. She couldn’t focus any attention or energy on anything except the feeling of her head being split open.

The world seemed to tilt, and she sank down into her seat, clutching the edge of the bench. The pain faded just slightly, allowing her eyes to open, but they only managed to see the back of Quirrell’s ridiculous, purple turban before the pain ripped through her skull again, even more intense than before. She couldn’t even squeak in pain, there was no air left in her body. Her eyes screwed shut as the pain stabbed again, and she felt dizzy. It felt like someone had cut a line in her skull, and was grabbing at the edges with both hands, trying to pray it open and see into her brain.

And then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped.

The pain evaporated, but the dizziness and the faint feeling stayed on. She continued to hold onto the edge of the bench, knuckles nearly white, until it faded.

Her eyes slowly pried themselves open just in time to see Harry dive forward, past Snape, and wrap his hand around the Snitch.

The crowd around them _detonated,_ screaming and cheering. They stomped their feet and waved their arms as Harry was surrounded by his team. They lifted him into their arms, chanting his name as they jumped up and down. The Gryffindors poured out from their stand to join in the celebration.

_“HARRY! HARRY! HARRY!”_ They all cried. The Slytherin team slinked off to the side, looking like wounded animals. Angry and vengeful. But still, they left, ignoring the celebration around them.

Snape had been glaring at the cheering and the glee, but his eyes moved to Addie in the stands. She managed a smirk at his frustration and winked before starting for the stairs to go down to the crowd below them.

But as she did, she noticed that Quirrell was standing at the edge of the stand. Staring.

As she turned to walk down the stairs, he turned his back to her to look over the Forbidden Forest.

And the faintest shadow of pain echoed across her head.

Right when the owl dropped the letter into her lap at the feast, Addie wasted no time. The second she saw the familiar handwriting on the front, she stuttered out an excuse about not feeling well and took off for her apartment. Not noticing two men watching her, one in suspicion and the other with his face shadowed in concern.

All but slamming the door behind her, Addie locked it and tore open the letter, eyes drinking in the words that were scribbled onto the paper.

_Adrasteia,_

_I’m afraid it is not your imagination. These dreams are not just dreams; they are incredibly dangerous, to you and anyone around you. You need to inform the headmaster at your school immediately; don’t tell him anything of the gods and leave out as many details of your childhood as you can. But you can tell him about your lost memories, and your inability to remember your mother._

_My child, I cannot stress this to you enough: there are things you don’t understand, and I know it’s frustrating, but don’t forget that it’s for your safety. However threatened you feel right now, it would be so much worse if you knew everything. I have known you for so long, my dear. Please, please believe me. And listen to my warning._

_Has your father spoken to you recently? I know you don’t think that he cares, Adrasteia, but he does. And he has one main goal right now: the protection and the safety of both his children._

_There’s not much else I can say. If you have those dreams again, or if you have any other strange symptoms; headaches, hallucinations, fainting, dizziness, any of it; then you need to go straight to the headmaster. Trust me, it’s for your wellbeing. The gods will not be angered, I will handle them. Though, I have to tell you, Lord Zeus seems less and less upset by you lately. I’m not sure what you’re doing, but try to keep it up._

_Please write to me again, and keep up with your training._

_Well wishes,_

_Chiron_

It was hard not to panic, and it was hard not to feel so disappointed. A sigh pushed past her lips, breaking slightly, and she let the letter fall onto her couch. It suddenly felt very warm in the room, and she reached up to rip off her cloak, breathing picking up.

_What are they hiding from me? Is this Voldemort? What’s going on? Why isn’t anyone telling me anything? Why am I in danger? What is dangerous for me?_ Who _is dangerous for me?_

The questions continued to run rampant in her head, making it ache just slightly. She cursed quietly in Greek, then shuffled towards her bathroom.

The tub was soon filled with steaming hot water, and Addie could barely suppress her moan of relief as she sunk down. The steam relaxed her lungs and her tight chest, slowing her breathing as she laid her head back, eyes closing.

It was hard to know how long she sat there, but the water was practically ice by the time she got out. Slipping into her favorite, silky pink nightgown, she laid down in bed. The comforter felt so much softer than it normally did, and exhaustion was waying down her eyelids. As she lay in bed, the world got quieter and darker.

And then she was gone.

_It was the dream again._

_She wasn’t in control of her own body. Standing in the street, the cold fall wind blowing around her. It should have bothered her, but it didn’t._

_She was walking forward again. This time, she didn’t have the energy to fight. All she could do was watch as it happened around her. As she killed Harry’s parents, feeling so sadistically, venomously pleased. She felt so sick, like she wanted to scratch her skin away, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move._

_She was completely helpless._

_But as the dream progressed, something felt off. The texture of every doorknob, of the gate, of the floorboards, felt different. It didn’t feel like the wood in the house. The floor was cold against her bare feet, and it felt like stone. The air was cold, but it smelled different. Not like the damp grass of the outside, but like the moisture in the air of the dungeons. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and the walk down each hallway was nearly doubled in time._

_Why did the world feel so… off? Like someone was trying to watch two different scenes of a movie at once, but couldn’t get them to sync up. It was like someone was messing with the time frame._

Adrasteia…

_That voice. That cold, high voice. She felt like someone had frozen her blood right in her veins._

I know you hear me, Adrasteia. I know you know who I am…

_No. Go away, get away from me! Get away!_

_It was like trying to scream, but not being able to open your mouth._

Don’t be frightened of me. You have nothing to fear from me…

_No, don’t come near me! No!_

Come to me, Adrasteaia. Do not be afraid…

_No!_

“Adrasteia!”

It was like she’d physically been dropped back into the waking world. She woke up in her body with a jarring motion, her legs giving out underneath her. She felt herself head towards the ground, but two warm hands were on her arms, holding her upright. The fingers were long enough they wrapped all the way around her biceps, anchoring her to a standing position. She tried to force her eyes open, but everything was blurry.

“Adrasteia, for Merlin’s sake, wake up!”

The voice was familiar; familiar enough to pull her into awareness. Her breathing increased, and her eyes fluttered before everything began to fade back into focus.

_Where am I?_

The first thing she noticed was how absolutely freezing she was. Goosebumps rose up all along her arms and legs, and it was then she noticed how little she was wearing. It would have embarrassed her a lot more if she wasn’t so confused.

She was standing in a hallway, and not just any hallway; the third floor corridor. In front of her was a familiar door, and she hear shuffling on the other side of it. A low growl made the hair on her skin stand on end, and she shuddered before her brown eyes fell to the person in front of her.

Snape was standing close; too close. He was clutching her arms, and it was then she realized that was the only reason she hadn’t collapsed. Her legs felt so weak, why did she feel so weak? They were like jelly, even worse than the time Chiron had made her run seven miles, no break and no slowing down, for training. Snape’s face was drawn in worry, confusion, and annoyance as he held onto her.

“What…” she tried to speak and shift, but both proved to be mistakes. She barely managed to get the word out before her leg gave way as she tried to put weight on it, and then she was falling again. Snape caught her, now holding her propped against his body, as he jostled her.

“Merlin’s beard, Adrasteia! What are you doing? Why did you not tell anyone that you sleepwalk?”

“Sleep… what?” Confusion clouded her thoughts again, but she shook her head. Addie didn’t sleepwalk, she never had. Not that she could remember, anyway. “No, I- I don’t… what?”

“Alright, that’s enough. You need to get back to bed. We can discuss this with the headmaster in the morning-“

His annoyed voice was cut off when Addie screamed and clutched her skull.

Agony thundered across her head, her eyes screwing shut and a shriek pushing past her lips. It was that same feeling, the feeling of someone attempting to rip her skull in half, trying to see her mind. She could barely stop her screaming, she could barely _move._ Her legs gave out, and Snape barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

“What is it, Matthews?! Tell me what’s wrong!”

She tried to open her mouth and tell him, but could only cry out again. Tears were pushing past her eyes, and for the first time in a very long time, Adrasteia Matthews prayed for unconsciousness.

**GENERAL P.O.V**

“Adrasteia!” Snape cried, lowering the girls convulsing body to the ground. She didn’t answer, screaming in agony and grabbing her skull. He yanked his wand free and waved it; a doe springing forth from it.

“Headmaster, it’s Professor Matthews! Something is wrong, meet me in the hospital wing at once!”

The patronus took off, and the potions master bent down to grab the quivering girl and scoop her into his arms. But right as he did, her head suddenly snapped towards him her neck gave an audible _crack!_

Her eyes were wide, red around the iris’s, and she spoke to him in a voice that chilled him to the bone.

_“Give me the stone!”_

Snape nearly dropped her in shock. That wasn’t his apprentice’s voice. It was, but not just hers. It was like someone had been speaking with her.

Not, not with. _Through_ her.

And as quickly as it had happened, she slumped forward, unconscious. Snape grabbed her again, shaking her. But she didn’t even stir, her body limply moving with the jostling. As he did, he noticed with a start how cold she was; her skin was ice. He cast a hurried warming spell over her, taking off for the hospital wing, confusion washing over him as his mind fought to come up with explanations of this, of the possibilities. Of what had suddenly caused the girl to act like this.

In his haste, he didn’t notice the figure standing in the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're hella confused about the dream, good. Trust me, it's not supposed to make any sense right now. Please comment and kudo's, and I'll be seeing you next time!


	12. HEAVEN KNOWS

_“Adrasteia.”_

_The deep, familiar voice made her jump, and she whirled around to see her father behind her. Wait, her father? She looked back over her shoulder, seeing the ocean in front of her. When did she get here? Was she dreaming again? She couldn’t remember falling asleep that night…_

_“Adrasteia.” His voice again made her turn, and she saw his face. It was grave, his laugh lines invisible, his eyes stormy like the sea in front of her. Dark like the clouds above them._

_“Dad-“_

_“You can trust him, Adrasteia. Let him help you. But you must be careful, they’re onto you.”_

_“Who? Dad, what about Zeus-“_

_“Don’t worry about him.” He told her, his face growing darker. “He won’t be bothering you for a while, but you can worry about that later. You need to be on your guard, Adrasteia. They’re both coming after you.”_

_She opened her mouth to ask him who; who was coming after her, what did they want, when would it happen-_

_-_ and then she woke up.

It wasn’t like when she woke up other times, coming out of that unconscious state. This time, her eyes flew open and she was on high alert, her heart pounding. The stone ceiling above her wasn’t one she recognized, and she bolted into a sitting position, gasping. Her senses were going haywire, it felt like there was danger everywhere. Where was she? How did she get here? Who put her here?

“Matthews-“

A hand fell on her shoulder, and she reacted before she thought. Grabbing it, she swung her body off the bed she was in and used her momentum to drag her assailant to the floor, pinning him beneath her with his hands above his head.

“Merlin’s beard, Matthews! It’s me, get off!”

Snape lay beneath her, face painted in bewilderment and fury. It was then she realized he was the one who had grabbed her, and now she was straddling him. She stuttered, unsure of how to respond.

“Snape- I-“ she stood, breathing erratically. Her hands came up to push her curls back, and she turned in a circle. Was this the hospital wing? How did she get here?

“Matthews,” she turned back to see her mentor on his feet, approaching her cautiously with his hands in front of him, “you need to calm down. You’re in the hospital wing.”

“How did I get here?” She demanded, reaching up to feel Storm. But her fingers met bare skin, and her eyes widened. “Where is my necklace?!”

“It’s right here.” He told her calmly, gesturing to the nightstand next to her cot. The gold chain glinted back at her, and she bolted towards it. She wanted to fully form the blade and check on it, but she knew she couldn’t. She settled for looping it around her neck, instead.

“Matthews, you need to tell me what you remember.” Snape told her, taking another step closer. But she shifted back, still anxiously running her hand through her hair.

“I-I don’t know. I can’t remember- I-I can’t-“ Her breathing picked up, and she could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate.

“Poppy!” Snape called out, taking a few more steps closer to Adrasteia. “Poppy!”

The matron burst through the door, face tight with concern when she saw the panicking young woman. Behind her, Dumbledore and McGonogall both followed.

“Sit, my dear.” Madame Pomfrey soothed, gently guiding the young woman back onto the cot. Adrasteia’s heart was pounding, her instincts were on high. She felt like the room was packed with monsters she couldn’t see, like an invisible force was waiting to lunge at her.

Once sitting down, Madame Pomfrey leaned over and grabbed a dark brown liquid, holding it to her. “It’s a calming draught, dear. Drink it.”

Addie hesitated; what if this wasn’t what they said it was? What if they hurt her? But seeing the worried look in their eyes, their concern for her, pushed her to place the vial to her lips and drink it down in one swallow.

It took about thirty seconds, but soon, Addie’s heartbeat slowed. Her breathing began to even out, and her paranoia died. She looked around again, noticing how the room looked darker and not as in focus as it had before. What was that? Why had she been freaking out so horribly?

“Adrasteia?”

Her eyes slowly raised to Dumbledore’s, who was watching her with a great deal of worry. “My child, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” She whispered, then cleared her throat. She felt extremely embarrassed, and slightly panicked by her own behavior. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice at a normal volume, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why- why I was acting like that…”

“It’s alright, dear.” The old man told her softly, sitting down at the edge of her bed and taking her hand. “We have been very worried about you. Severus brought you in here last night; do you recall what happened?”

“Last night?” She repeated, confusion clouding her mind. “I can’t remember… I don’t even remember going to sleep…”

“I found you in the third floor corridor, Matthews.” Severus told her, his voice grave. “You were sleepwalking, it seemed.”

“Sleepwalking?”

“Matthews,” he told her, voice growing darker, “you were slamming yourself against the door to the stone.” He paused, eyes narrowing. “You were trying to force it in.”

She stared at him in disbelief, then looked back at the headmaster, shaking her head. “Headmaster, I don’t- I can’t even remember, I _swear_ I’m not after the stone-“

“We know, child.” He soothed, patting her hand. “When Severus brought you here, Poppy did a magical scan. Your mind,” he paused, face darkening, “someone entered your mind. Or perhaps a more appropriate term would be, they tried to. Someone attempted to curse you with the Imperius curse.”

A cold feeling grew in her chest, and she stared at him, lips parting in shock. “They- they what? How would-“

Suddenly, her words died and something flashed across her eyes. A memory.

_The Quidditch match._

_Quirrell._

_The pain._

_The nightmare._

“I-I was having a dream,” she said lowly, looking back up at them, “I was having this awful nightmare. I’ve been having it more and more, it won’t go away.”

“What is it, my dear?” McGonogall asked, face shadowed with concern for her young friend.

Addie hesitated; she needed to tell them what had been happening without tipping them off about her childhood, which would be incredibly difficult.

“I-I’m not myself. I’m in someone else’s body, I can even hear their thoughts. And-“ she bit her lip, “this person, they’re killing people.”

“The Killing Curse?” Dumbledore asked gravely, his face shadowing over with unease. She nodded, but her voice dropped as she spoke again.

“Headmaster, I think I know what I’m seeing. I think- I think I might be seeing the murder of the Potters through Voldemort’s eyes.”

* * *

Her statement did not ease anyone’s mind. She was let out of the hospital wing soon, but that didn’t mean the concern or the apprehension over her actions stopped.

She learned from Snape what they’d seen when they’d tried to figure out what happened to her. Someone had attempted to Imperio her, but something had stopped it. As in, halted the spell and fought against it, counteracting the magic within her body. It was as if her very being _rejected_ the magic. All of the professors were bewildered as to what could have caused such a thing to happen, but Addie had the strongest feeling it had to do with her blood. Demigods were not easy to control, and even harder to manipulate. Did that affect her susceptibility to spells and curses? It seemed like a good thing, but what if it was bad?

It was a solid conclusion between the four of them that the Dark Lord himself had something to do with her state of mind; Dumbledore had firmly instructed her to wake him, Snape, or McGonogall immediately after she woke up from her next nightmare.

But she couldn’t.

Because the nightmares immediately stopped.

It wasn’t just frustrating, it was _infuriating_. Addie was left feeling fed up, confused, scared, and absolutely livid. Even late night swims in the lake did nothing. From that moment on, she had dreamless night after dreamless night.

As she got her sleep back and slowly began to feel more energized, she became more focused. All of her free time was spent in the library, looking at books of dreams. But none of them talked about dreaming of another person’s memories, not one. She’d thought about asking to look in the Restricted Section but stopped herself. What good would it do her? Even if she found the answer, the dreams were gone. Until it happened again so they could all revise the memory in Dumbledore’s pensive, they were left with no options.

Well, there was one.

“No.”

Snape glared at his assistant, his fingers curling tighter around the book in his hand. “Matthews, if you truly want to know the answers to this question, then it’s necessary.”

“No, it isn’t. Dumbledore said it himself: if I don’t want to, I don’t have to. You can’t just _invade_ my head, Snape. It’s an extreme violation of my privacy.”

“I won’t _invade_ anything, Matthews.” He growled at her, his patience wearing even thinner as he slammed the book onto a desk and turned back to her with a glare. Why was this woman so _stubborn?_ “I’ll simply go in and find an old dream. It won’t be very clear, but it will be something. Dreams aren’t as vivid as actual memories.”

“I said _no_.” Addie repeated, standing firm in her decision. She couldn’t risk him using Legilimency on her. If he accidentally saw a memory he wasn’t supposed to, even just a second, the gods would kill them both, right on the spot. And she could only hope it was a mostly painless death. Or death at all. Zeus might turn them both into fish just to be ironic.

She turned around to walk away, but Snape’s voice stopped her cold.

“What are you hiding?”

She froze, staring hard at the door, and whirled around to face him. Her gaze was dark, and her fingers twitched. “Excuse me?”

“You won’t let me into your head.” He started walking towards her, face painted in a sneer. “You won’t tell me about your childhood, or where you lived. You’ve only given vague answers about your family, and despite growing up in America with no real contact of your father, you speak fluent Greek.” He stopped about two feet from her, eyes narrowed. “So, are you hiding something?”

“My life before this school, and outside of this school, is _none_ of your damn business-“

“And how do I know you’re not a spy?”

She stopped, staring at him in disbelief as he continued. “Who knows? This could all be some elaborate ruse to throw us off your trail, to make us think the Dark Lord is hurting you when in reality, he might be directing you.”

“How dare you.” Addie spoke lowly, stepping towards him. Her stomach tugged in fury, cold tendrils of curling up her gut and affecting her way to think. She could barely get the words out, she was so angry. “Don’t _ever_ accuse me of such an awful thing again, do you understand? Don’t talk about things you don’t know!”

She turned to stalk away, and heard Snape come after her, his voice raising.

“All I know is someone this afraid of showing their inner thoughts and emotions is hiding something? Why would the Dark Lord come after you? Why is he trying to use you? How does he know who you are-?”

_“Shut up!”_

She’d turned to scream at him, but before the words even finished leaving her lips, it happened.

The sink, which sat in the back of the classroom, had been full of water. They always cleaned it out after every class, since it was the one they used to dispose of potions. But as she screamed, that tug in her gut turned into a full shove and then the water sprayed all over the room, hitting them and soaking their clothes like a bomb had gone off inside of it.

Snape jumped back in surprise, unable to get out of the way of the cold water. Addie couldn’t even feel it, blinking as it soaked her cloak.

Snape tried to wipe the water off his eyes, raising his wand to dry the mess, but she’d already turned and fled. He called after her, but his voice faded as she ran to her room. It was late, the students all in bed, and she slammed the door behind her, locking it.

_What the hell was happening?_

* * *

The spring months slowly warmed up, bleeding into summer. The end of the school year was upon them, and with it came exams.

Most students were almost too excited to focus, but Addie wouldn’t accept that excuse. She continued to push all of the students extra hard in class, especially Hermione and Draco. She expected the two to walk away with the highest grades, seeing as they were constantly neck in neck for being at the top of their year. She could tell they were all frustrated, especially by all of the new homework. But they were young; she missed when homework was her only concern.

She and McGonogall were often up late at night, grading assignments and essays. The older woman was watching her closely, seeming constantly worried. But she didn’t need to be. As frustrating as it was, nothing weird was going on. Things seemed like they should have been: normal.

Snape was another story. Ever since their argument, he’d gone right back to ignoring her. Or, he tried to look like he had. But she could feel his eyes on her, watching her every move, tensing whenever she pulled out her wand. It annoyed her to no end; she wasn’t the enemy, she was trying her best to help them figure out what the hell was wrong with her. But if it was the Dark Lord, then he must have recognized the scrutiny he was under and abandoned ship.

Dumbledore was also keeping a closer eye on her, but he seemed to do it more out of concern than suspicion. He repeatedly asked her how she was feeling, how much sleep she’d been getting. His soft words were appreciated, but that didn’t mean they helped in anyway.

For those next few weeks, everything went off without a hitch. And sure enough, at the end of that floating river was the waterfall.

* * *

It started with detention. Addie had been halfway through soring seventh year assignments when Minerva approached her, looking frustrated and disappointed.

“Adrasteia,” she started, moving to stand in front of young apprentice, “I need your help.”

“Of course.” The young witch replied, setting down her quill. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, several nights ago, I caught four students out of bed. Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy. Fifty points have been deducted from each student, and they’ve been assigned to serve detention with Hagrid tonight at eleven o’clock.”

Addie’s eyebrows went all the way up to her hairline, and the corners of her lips quirked upwards as her mouth dropped open. “Wow, Minnie. And I thought I was ruthless.”

McGonogall glared at her for the use of the nickname, but otherwise continued. “Besides the point, Hagrid is requesting the help of another staff member. Seeing as I could handle everything on my own here, and I know Severus has a handle on his course load, I was hoping you could assist him.”

“Where’s the detention going to be taking place?”

“The Forbidden Forest.”

Addie’s hands froze, and she raised her eyes to Minerva, cloaking the apprehension in her voice with surprise. “I thought students weren’t allowed in the forest.”

“Yes, well, they’ll be accompanied by a teacher, and there will be rules. Why wouldn’t we ban the students from it?” Minerva asked matter-of-factly, and Addie shut her mouth. It made sense.

But she still hesitated. The Forbidden Forest was right at the edge of the property; that meant there could be monsters in there or at least nearby, and if she entered, they’d come for her. That could mean danger for herself, Hagrid, _and_ the kids. She bit her lip. _They’re already suspicious…_

“Ok, fine.” She relented, smiling at the relieved expression on her friends face. “I’ll meet up with Hagrid tonight.”

* * *

It was dark as she strolled down to Hagrid’s hut. The moon lit up the path in front of her, but dark clouds passing over would occasionally shadow her vision. Her lit wand guided her most of the way, and she happily bounced into the keeper’s hut upon invitation.

“’Ere yeh go.” Hagrid told her, handing her a steaming cup of tea. “Now I know yeh Americ’ns like yer coffee, but I’m afraid I ‘aven’t got none o’ it on me.”

“This is fine, thank you.” She assured him warmly, sipping the hot drink with a relieved sigh. “I hate to sound like I’m whining, but it’s times like this when I miss home.” She smiled nostalgically, gaze drifting towards the fire. “It would be warm by now; warm enough my foster siblings and I could start having bonfires outside again.”

“They let yeh do tha’?” Hagrid asked in surprise, and Addie chuckled, nodding.

“Yeah. Let’s just say my guardians were always encouraging very… _unusual_ skills.” She told him vaguely, then chuckled, smiling sadly. “My little brother will be training on those this summer. I guess I won’t be there to see it, though.”

“How ol’ is he?”

“He’s thirteen.” She told him, head tilted up proudly. “He’s such a good kid, too. When I was his age, I just remember being so _angry._ At our father, our relatives, at everyone who I felt like abandoned me. I wasn’t friendly, and I didn’t care about anyone else around me. But Percy…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “He’s better than me, and he’ll be better than I ever was.”

“Now, I doubt tha’.” Hagrid told her sternly, and she chuckled, shaking her head.

“No, trust me. This past summer, our dad,” she paused, biting her lip before continuing, “he got into some trouble. Ended up starting a very serious feud with his younger brother, one of our uncles. My father and all his siblings are very successful, um, business owners. When they started fighting, it really affected our whole family. Everyone was at each other’s throats; I had to break up more fights between my cousins than I’ve ever had to do before.

“We had a way to stop the fighting, and Percy did it. He saved that family more pain and grief than I can even tell you. And I remember I didn’t want him to do it; I was so furious that he even had to be dragged in. I hated how it always had to be us kids that broke up the fights, you know?” Her frown deepened, eyes narrowing until she was glaring at the flames. “It was always the new generation that was taking care of our parents instead of the other way around.”

There was a clap of thunder overhead. Hagrid jumped, glancing out the window and looking confused.

“We’re not due for rain for at least a week!” He protested, but there were no rain clouds.

Addie knew better. She’d gone too far. Not only was she telling Hagrid some very important information, she had just insulted the gods, even on a very minor scale. Scowling at the ceiling, she decided to switch tactics.

“Hey, Hagrid? Where did Fluffy come from?”

She wasn’t sure if her voice sounded as casual as she was trying to come across, but Hagrid didn’t appear to notice as he crossed back over to sit with her.

“Oh, I go’ ‘im off a Greek chappie in a pub.”

Addie inadvertently inhaled the gulp she’d been taking and nearly dropped the glass, coughing as she fought to clear her airway.

“Alrigh’ there, Adratsteia?”

She nodded, working to clear her airway as she sat up and grabbed a napkin, “Um, Hagrid; do you remember what this guy looked like?”

Hagrid opened his mouth, but suddenly stopped and his face drew taught with confusion. “I…I can’ really tell yeh.”

“Nothing?” She pressed, momentarily forgetting her goal to be neutral and casual. She sat forward, voice turning serious. “No distinguishing features that seemed strange for a wizard, or even a muggle?”

“Well, I do rememebr ‘e was importan’, and quite scary, I’ll tell yeh tha’.”

“Important and scary how?”

This time his face went blank, and he turned back to her. “I don’ really know.”

Addie felt her blood run a little colder. _That sounds an awful lot like-_

Voices and footsteps from the path near Hagrid’s door interrupted her train of thought, and the gamekeeper grabbed his crossbow.

“Righ’, tha’ll be them then!” He announced, throwing the door open. Addie swallowed her shock and stood up, doing her best to push the thought to the back of her mind and venturing out into the cold night air.

Several figures, four short and one tall, were walking towards them. The tall one held a swinging lamp, and Addie held up her lit wand to get a better look at them.

“Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started.”

They heard Filch say something to the children, then Malfoy’s distinct voice grow in pitch over something. Addie and Hagrid both fixed each other with a look and started towards the group, wanting to get into the forest and get back out.

“Abou’ time.” Hagrid announced their presence. Addie winked at the children’s bewildered expressions they sent her way, fighting back a smile as Neville blushed.

_He’s so cute._

“We’ve bin waitin’ fer a half n’ hour already. Alrigh’ there, Harry, Hermione?”

“I shouldn’t be too friendly to them, Hagrid.” Filch sneered, and Addie fixed him with a glare as he continued. “They’re here to be punished, after all.”

“I don’t think myself or Hagrid ever asked for your opinion on our teaching methods, did we, Filch?” She shot back; her voice laced with vitriol. “If that’s all, you can go.”

The old man scowled at her, but she didn’t even flinch. Filch was no scarier than an insect compared to what she’d faced; what could _he_ do to _her_?

“I’ll be back at dawn for what’s left of them.” He smirked, and then he was gone, lantern swinging as he walked back up the school. Malfoy immediately turned to them, face almost the same color as his hair.

“I’m not going into that forest.” He announced, but his attempt to sound firm was ruined by the tremor in his voice. Addie had to fight back an eyeroll as Hagrid responded.

“Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts,” He said fiercely, “Yeh’ve done something wrong an’ now yeh’ve got to pay fer it.”

“It’s called a consequence.” Addie supplied in a deadpan voice, noticing the snickers from the other three.

“But this is servant’s stuff, it’s not for students to do!” Addie’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he continued, “I thought we’d be copying lines or something. If my father knew I was doing this, he’d-“

“Mr. Malfoy, stop talking for about ten seconds and look around you.” To everyone’s surprise, the kid did as he was told and Addie continued, her voice dark. “Your father isn’t here. But Hagrid is, and so am I. You should be lucky that he’s the one leading this. I remember when I acted out of turn at your age, my uncle left me in the woods behind our home and ordered me to find my way back.”

The children started to laugh nervously but stopped when they say their professor’s somber expression. Addie wasn’t joking. She’d shoved another camper into the lake, knowing they couldn’t swim. Chiron hadn’t _actually_ left her alone, he’d bee watching her carefully the whole time. But it had been an important lesson in understanding why causing pain in other people who didn’t deserve it was wrong. Since she had no idea what it meant to feel the panic and desperation of drowning, Chiron was forced to get creative.

Of course, Addie didn’t blame him. She was a little shit as a child.

Satisfied with the silence, Hagrid motioned for the group to follow him. “Right then. Now, listen carefully, cause it’s dangerous what we’re gonna do tonight, an’ I don’ want no one takin’ risks. Follow me over here a moment.”

He led them to the edge of the forest, and pointed to a glittering, silver substance on the ground. Addie recognized it immediately.

_There’s an injured unicorn out there._

“Look there, see that stuff shinin’ on the ground? Silvery stuff? That’s unicorn blood. There’s a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. Thisis the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We’re gonna try an’ find the poor thing; we might have to put it out of its misery.” 

Addie felt her heart pang at his words. Unicorns were horses, and horses were subjects of her father. The thought of putting one down made her feel physically ill, and she felt even more determined to get into the forest.

“What if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first” Malfoy demanded, voice still shaking like a leaf.

“There’s nothin’ that lives in the forest that’ll hurt yeh if yer with me, Fang, or Professor Matthews here.” Hagrid assured the children. “An’ keep ter the path. Right, now, we’re gonna split inter two parties an’ follow the trail in diff’rent directions. There’s blood allover the place, it must’ve bin staggerin’ around since last night, at least.”

“I want Fang and Professor Matthews!” Malfoy announced, practically gluing himself to Addie’s side. She smirked down at him but pulled her wand out none the less and nodded the affirmative at Hagrid.

“Alrigh’ but I’ll warn yeh, Fang’s a coward. Righ’, it’ll be me, Harry, and Hermione going this way while Professor Matthews, Malfoy, and Neville take Fang the other way. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we’ll end up green sparks, righ’? Get yer wands out an’ practice now- that’s it- an’ if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks an’ we’ll all come find yeh. So, be careful. Let’s go.”

* * *

They lasted less than ten minutes. Of course, the second she looked away, Malfoy thought it would be absolutely hilarious to sneak up behind Neville and scare the hell out of him. And, since Neville was a jumpy young wizard with a freaking magic wand, he immediately sent red sparks into the air. Hagrid had come thundering through the brush to find her lecturing Malfoy and threatening him with another detention.

So that’s how she found herself now accompanying Harry and Malfoy with Fang trotting beside her. They’d walked mostly in silence until Malfoy’s voice interrupted her roaming eyes for unicorns blood.

“Did you live with your uncle?”

Her eyes moved towards the white-haired boy, who was watching her with a curious look. She nodded as she looked up ahead.

“Yeah. My dad’s youngest brother ran this sort of group home. My father trusted him to raise me with the other children there.”

“And this is in America?”

She raised her eyebrows at his questions, but then remembered: Malfoy wasn’t even twelve. Spoiled or not, he was still a kid. And kids were naturally curious.

“Yep. I’ve lived in Long Island, New York all my life.”

“What’s Ilvermorny like?” Harry chimed in, matching her at her other side. “Do they have houses, like us?”

“They sure do.” She told the boys with a smile, “Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Wampus, and Thunderbird.”

The boys both drew faces at the names, then Malfoy asked, “Which one is most like Slytherin?”

“And which one is most like Gryffindor?”

Addie shook her head, lips quirking up in a smile. “None of them. They’re not equal to any of the Hogwarts houses. Thought, if I’m being honest, my house own house has characteristics from both Gryffindor and Slytherin.”

“Which one is that?”

“Wampus.” She said proudly, “The houses of Ilvermorny represent parts of a witch or wizard. Wampus represents the body and tends to favor warriors.”

“That sounds like Gryffindor then!” Harry said excitedly, and Malfoy scowled.

But Addie shook her head. “Just being brave is not enough to be a good warrior, you two.” She warned lowly. “You need to be smart. A good friend of mine once said, ‘Even strength has to bow to wisdom’.”

Before either boy could respond, a low growl sounded behind them. Fang had stopped dead, and was growling low in his throat, hackles up all the way from his throat to his tail. Addie’s own hairs on her neck stood on end, and she stepped in front of the students, wand drawn.

“Professor, look.” Harry’s voice pulled her attention to a gleaming silver substance, and her eyes followed the blood trail.

Laying about ten feet in front of them was the unicorn. Addie’s heart sunk when she saw that it was most definitely dead; the ground was soaked in the blood from a gash in its throat. She opened her mouth warn the boys to stay back, but before she could, her senses went haywire and she whirled, wand pointed at a bush.

Sure enough, it shook slightly, and then a shape crawled out of it. It moved lowly on the ground, like a snake, and stopped at the unicorn. Lowering its head, Addie watched in horror as it began to drink the unicorn’s blood-

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Malfoy’s blood curdling scream brought the figure’s head upright, facing them, and the blond took off through the forest with Fang. Still screaming his lungs out.

“Run, Harry!” Addie ordered, moving to wave her wand and bind the creature in front of them. Maybe even stun it just long enough to escape somewhere safe. But before she could, absolute _agony_ exploded in her skull.

A shriek let her lips, and her legs gave out. She gasped softly as she hit the ground, wand still clutched loosely in her fingers. She saw, behind the haze over her eyes, two things:

Harry was also on the ground, clutching his head in pain.

And the figure was stalking towards them.

As it got closer, she grabbed her wand tighter, fighting the pain that threatened to completely blind her. “Stay back!”

Fumbling, she moved in front of Harry, ready to take on the monster and give him a running start. But before she could, something launched over her head. Silvery and white, it landed directly in front of she and Harry.

The figure turned and fled, and like someone had flipped a switch, the pain stopped. Addie slowly looked up, ensuring the beast was gone before her eyes turned in shock to the figure in front of her.

“Chiron?”

It left her lips right as the centaur turned, and her heart sunk upon seeing that it wasn’t her mentor and former guardian. His eyes narrowed at her.

“Adrasteia Matthews. I was told to watch for you.” He turned to see Harry also standing, shuffling behind the professor out of slight fear.

“Are you both alright?”

“Yes, thank you.” Harry responded before she could. “What _was_ that?”

The centaur didn’t answer, his eyes instead moving to Harry’s forehead, where his scar was on full display. “You’re the Potter boy. You’d both better get back to Hagrid, the forest isn’t safe right now. Can you ride, Potter? It’s faster that way.”

As he lowered himself to the ground, Addie warily helped Harry onto his back. “My name is Firenze.” The centaur supplied, and she started to open her mouth to ask him when thundering hooves interrupted her.

Two more centaurs burst through the shrubbery, their flanks sweaty and heaving. Upon seeing Harry on Firenze’s back, their eyes blazed.

“Firenze!” The older one thundered, “What are you doing with a human on your back? Have you no shame?” His eyes suddenly zeroed in on her. “And what is _she_ doing here?”

Addie’s chest prickled in anger, and she stood at full height. Who the hell was _he_ to speak to her like that? “My name is Adrasteia Matthews. I am an assistant professor at this school, and I’m here for the student’s safety.”

The centaur sneered. “I wasn’t aware your _kind_ was even allowed here.”

Her heart went straight to her stomach, and her blood turned to ice as she felt Harry’s eyes, swimming with confusion on her. Setting her face like stone, she regarded the half-horse, half-man coolly.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

The centaur opened his mouth again, and for just one second, Addie thought with horror that he was about the expose her right then and there. But before he could speak, Firenze interrupted.

“Bane, don’t you realize who this is?” He nodded to Harry. “This is the Potter boy. The quicker he leaves the forest, the better.” His eyes flickered to Addie, then to the sky. “And you’re aware we cannot lay a hand on her.”

The centaur, Bane, growled lowly. “What have you been telling him? You know we must not set ourselves against the heavens.” He glared at Addie again, like her very presence offended him. “And just because I cannot harm the half-blood doesn’t mean I must worship her.”

“Hey, what do you have against half-bloods?” Harry interjected, but Addie shushed him violently. Let him think this was a blood purity issue; it was much safer that way.

The other centaur pawed nervously at the ground. “I’m sure Firenze thought what he was doing was best.” He tried to reason in a somber voice.

Bane kicked his back legs in anger, eyes practically shooting flames. “What’s best?” He cried, “What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our job to run after stray humans like donkeys in the forest!” He looked at Addie when he said this, voice dripping with double meaning.

Fury rose in her gut at his thinly veiled insult. How _dare_ he? Chiron was worth _ten_ of him! She opened her mouth to warn him against speaking again, but Firenze beat her to it. He suddenly reared back angrily, and Harry grabbed onto his shoulders to avoid falling off.

“Do you not see the unicorn?!” He bellowed, “Do you not understand why it was killed? I set myself against what is lurking in the forest, and yes, along side humans,” his eyes flickered to Addie for just a second, “and others if I must.”

And with that, he turned and went off. Addie turned back to face Bane and the other centaur, her face darkening.

“You know you can’t tell them.”

Bane sneered at her. “I would be more worried about yourself, girl. Jupiter is bright, tonight, as well as Mars. Lord Zeus is none too happy with you as of late.”

“It is _none of your business_ what is happening here.” She hissed at him, eyes blazing. “And if the Wizarding World was to be told of the power they forgot so long ago, I wonder who would be to blame? Myself?” She cocked her head. “Or the centaur, laying wait in the woods?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “We’d both be killed, and you know that.”

“You’d best to watch your words, Adrasteia Matthews.” Bane warned, taking several steps closer. “There is no one here to save you.”

“That’s because I don’t need anyone to.” She reminded him gravely, her wand hand twitching. “I’m capable of following through on my own threats.” Her eyes narrowed. “Remember that.”

She turned and stalked away then. Her blood was still boiling as she followed Firenze’s tracks, but as she neared the edge of the forest and heard Hagrid’s voice, she fought to keep her temper in check. Harry was probably going to be asking all sorts of questions when she saw him again, and she’d need answers.

It was hard to concentrate. Bane had nearly blown her cover right then and there, and she shuddered to think what would happen if he did. But that wasn’t the only thing that was scaring her.

The hooded figure, the one drinking the unicorns blood…she had a sinking feeling of who it was. After all, who would be desperate to slaughter a unicorn; who would be so close to death to be willing to live a cursed life, a half-life?

One who’s life was already hanging by a thread. She squared her shoulders as she reached the edge of the woods. Her mind was already set on her guess.

She really needed to talk to Snape.


	13. HOMESICK

Addie, dressed in faded skinny jeans a white crop-top t-shirt for the warm weather waiting for her, paused at the door of her apartment, turning to look back.

She’d be returning to that same one when she got back at the end of the summer, so she hadn’t changed the decorations. Simply packed up her things and deep cleaned it, preparing it for her return that fall. _If I live that long,_ she thought, half-jokingly, half-somberly. She still wasn’t sure what was going on at Camp Half-Blood, and she was even less sure that the gods would allow her to interfere.

But how could she not try? Camp Half-Blood was her home, whether she still lived there or not. Her brother, Chiron, Annabeth, they were all still there. And she wasn’t going to let Luke, Kronos, or anyone else threaten it.

But there was one more thing she had to do.

The dungeons weren’t as cold as they seemed during the school year, and she couldn’t tell if it was the warm summer weather or if it had ever been cold at all. Maybe it had taken her this long to warm up to it.

Bad pun? Yeah.

She only bothered knocking lightly before opening the door. Snape didn’t even look up, merely scribbling on a piece of parchment.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be the end of the school year if you weren’t bothering me one last time.” He deadpanned, and Addie’s lips twitched only just as she crossed over to stan in front of his desk.

“I wanted to say thank you.”

He froze, looking up from his work. The normally stubborn, cocky young woman wasn’t meeting his eyes for the first time, and she looked wildly uncomfortable as she fiddled with the edges of small white t-shirt she was wearing.

“I, um- I started this school year with no real idea how it was going to go. My life has a way of surprising me, and I thought that I would hate you at the beginning of the year. But you saved my life a time or two, and I repay my debts, so…” she trailed off, then reached into her back pocket and grabbed a slip of paper. “I’m still not sure if this will be my permanent address this summer, but it’s where I’m going. I think my extended family might need me, and I need to help them as much as I can. Whatever you need, just write to that address and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Snape took the paper, still looking surprised and a little suspicious as she grabbed her suitcase and started for the door again. But halfway there, his voice stopped her.

“Matthews.”

She turned to see him walking towards her, a face normally set in such somber expression tight with uncertainty. Stopping in front of her, he placed his hands in his robe pockets.

“I suppose I should thank you as well. That dog nearly took my leg off, and you didn’t have to wait for me to wake up in the hospital wing. So,” he paused, and Addie had to bite back a laugh as his face twisted into one of discomfort. “I’ll save that favor for when you get back to school next year. We’ll be getting a new DADA professor, and I fear that the headmaster already has his sights set on someone.”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “Who? I didn’t know he’d picked someone already.”

“He hasn’t officially. I’m attempting to help him see reason, but he is a very stubborn man.” The frustration in Snape’s voice broke Addie’s professionalism and she snorted. They sat in silence for a minute, and she smiled at him again.

“Well, I’ve got to say good-bye to McGonogall and the headmaster before I go. I’ll see you next year, Snape.”

He didn’t respond right away, watching her leave. “Try not to get yourself into trouble, Matthews. I don’t want to look for a new assistant when you die.”

She sighed as she opened the door. “You really had to kill that moment, huh?”

And then she was gone. Snape didn’t say anything, eyes lingering on the door after it close for several seconds before he shook his head and walked back to his desk, willing the distraction away.

Goodbye’s to her new friend were sad, but McGonogall had already showed her the lesson plans for next year. They’d be working together closely again, something Addie looked forward to. The older woman thanked her warmly and hugged her, surprising Addie. She’d never hugged anyone outside of family, and she didn’t peg Minerva for a hugger. But she returned it anyway, bidding her a kind-hearted farewell before leaving.

She was halfway to the headmaster’s office to Floo away when a familiar young voice stopped her. “Professor?”

Harry Potter was standing in the hall, looking like he was walking towards the front entrance to head home. Addie smiled at the boy, waving her wand and setting her suitcase down.

“Hey, Harry. You heading to the Express?”

He nodded, shuffling his feet. “Yeah, but I, er, I needed to ask you something.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t hide her surprise; Harry wasn’t exactly the type to go seeking academic things out past the end of the school year. That was more a Hermione Granger thing to do. “Ok, what do you need?”

Harry looked nervous, shuffling his feet and picking at the sleeve of his shirt. But his green eyes were burning with an emotion she couldn’t pinpoint. Finally, after casting a quick glance around them, he turned to her and spoke.

“That night, in the forest, what did the centaurs mean when they called you a half-blood?”

Addie froze, feeling her stomach drop. But she maintained her facial expression, letting it slip into one of confusion as she cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they seemed to really hate you. At least, Bane did. They called you a half-blood like there was something wrong with that, and they seemed to think there was something wrong with you being at the school.”

Addie shook her head, “Harry, centaurs are complicated. They don’t normally like wizards or witches-“

“No, that’s not it.” He protested, “I know that’s not it. They didn’t ever speak to me that way.”

“Well, you’re a kid, Harry. They wanted to go after the adult in the scenario, I’m sure.”

A weak defense, but it was the best she could come up with. Still, Harry didn’t look convinced in the slightest. Addie sighed, and stepped closer to him, placing her hand on his shoulder and gesturing to a nearby bench. “Here, sit down.”

The boy seemed rigid but obeyed and she sat down beside him. Rubbing her hands together, she bit her lip before turning back to him and smiling slightly. “You know, I have a brother around your age.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hm. He’s actually just a little bit older, but you remind me of him a lot. He’s not a wizard, but if he was and he attended this school, he’d be a Gryffindor for sure. He’s so stubborn, and impulsive, and can be very prideful. He has this,” she paused and sighed, rolling her eyes, “infuriating way of taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong in our family; not that our family members ever _help_ in any way. But I’m getting off track. My point is, I often find myself wishing he’d stop trying to take on everything, stop trying to find answers for things he doesn’t need to shoulder.” She turned to him, dark brown eyes soft. “And I mean the same thing for you.

“Harry,” she placed her hand on his shoulder, “everyone has secrets. Me, you, Snape, Hermione, Ron, even Dumbledore. And that doesn’t mean that any of us are bad people. I know you had your doubts about me this school year, but I want you to know that I would _never_ hurt anyone here. I came here because I want to teach, and…” she trailed off, wondering if she should keep speaking. Harry cocked his head at her.

“And, why else?”

“Because I needed somewhere safe.” She finished somberly, watching as his eyes widened. “Everyone has times when they need to feel safe, Harry.”

The large group of students moved like waves in the sea as they all headed to the Hogwarts Express. Addie watched them leave, pulling her messenger bag across her body and levitating her suitcase behind her once again. As the crowd moved, two red-headed figures bobbed towards her, faces painted in mischievous smiles.

“Professor!” Fred Weasley crowed, stopping in front of her. “We wanted to say good-bye!”

“Did you now?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow. They nodded eagerly.

“Are you coming back next year? We’d hate to deal with Snape without you.” George spoke up.

“ _Professor_ Snape, you two,” she admonished, “and yes, I’ll be here. I’m excited to become more involved in your guys’ education.”

The twins began speaking again but were interrupted by a loud bird’s call. They all looked up to see an owl sweeping over the students, a letter clutched in his beak.

“That’s strange; who’s getting mail at a time like this?” George wondered, but stopped when the owl landed on Addie’s suitcase, ruffling his feathers impatiently. “I think it’s yours, professor.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Addie murmured, face creasing in concern. She tore the letter open, feeling her heart speed up when she spotted Chiron’s familiar handwriting.

“What language is that?” She heard Fred ask his brother in a whisper, but as she read the short paragraph, she felt her heart plummet to her feet. Her eyes went wide, and all the color drained from her face. “Professor?”

She didn’t answer, stuffing the letter into her back pocket and grabbing her bags. “Get to the train, you two. I’ll see you next year. I need to get back to New York.”

Without looking back, she took off for Dumbledore’s office, the blood rushing in her ears and fighting down the sick feeling that was bubbling in her stomach. However, in her haste to get to the fireplace to get home, she didn’t notice the letter slipping out of her pocket. The piece of parchment fluttered to the ground, laying there as students trampled over it.

A sweeping black cloak brushed over it, and then long, thin fingers closed around it. Sweeping it up from the ground, Snape stared at the unfamiliar Greek words, scrawled out in what seemed a frantic pace. He wasn’t sure what it said but judging from how fast Adrasteia was running and the tone of the letter, he could only guess that something awful had happened over the school year.

Then, his thoughts went to what Addie had told him before she left.

_I think my family might need my help._

By the time Addie had Floo’d to MACUSA and then Apparated to the bottom of Half-Blood Hill, it was late in the afternoon in the USA. The time change would come back and bite her in the ass, for sure. But that wasn’t where her mind was at.

As she landed on her feet on the thick, green grass, she saw in dismay what she had prayed so hard would never happen. Chiron was galloping away from the Camp, his saddlebags packed and the messenger bag on his shoulder bulging with his books and belongings. Addie’s heart leapt to her throat and she took off after him immediately, momentarily forgetting her suitcase in the grass.

“Chiron! Chiron, wait!”

The centaur in question stopped and whirled around at the familiar young voice, face relaxing in relief when he saw who it belonged to. “Oh, Adrasteia!”

As they neared each other, Addie tossed her own bag to the ground and threw her arms around the man. Neither she nor Chiron had ever been huggers, or people fond of physical affection. But they both considered each other an exception to their own rule.

“I- I thought I was too late!” She told him as they pulled apart, her brown eyes beginning to glisten. “Chiron, is it true? What you said in your letter; Did Zeus- I mean, are you actually…?”

To her horror, he nodded, eyes somber. “Yes, my child.” He told her gravely as she raised a hand to her mouth. “I’m afraid that Lord Zeus needed someone to blame, and I was in charge at the time. I am going to join the other centaurs.”

“What? No!” Addie hadn’t mean to shout, but fury was ripping through her bloodstream with a speed that was nearly impossible to control. “You can’t be serious! Chiron, you’ve trained _thousands_ of successful, strong heroes. Who the hell else can do this?”

“Language, Adrasteia.” Chiron warned lowly, and if it had been any other situation, Addie would have rolled her eyes. “What’s done is done. There is no changing the King of the God’s mind, you know this better than most.”

“No.” Addie started shaking her head, “No. This can’t happen. We- we have to _fight_ this. This is such bullshit-!”

“My child,” Chiron reached up and placed his hands on Addie’s shoulder, stopping her enraged rant, “there is no fighting this. You and I both know that this cannot be changed.” He paused, then smiled. “Was I the only one you came to check on?”

Addie sighed. “I’m going to go into New York and get Percy, but-“

“He’s already here, child.” The centaur turned and pointed up the hill, “He, Annabeth, and a new, er, _friend_ of theirs.”

“You know who did this.” She told him, voice dropping into a dark tone as she dismissed his attempt to lighten the conversation. “We _all_ know who did this. Why isn’t Zeus trying to track down Luke?”

“I’m sure he is.” Chiron told her, nodding. “But Luke is working with a _titan_ , my dear. That means he has tools and magic at his disposal that are hard to compete with. The rules are not quite the same.”

“I can find him.” Addie volunteered immediately, her fingers twitching towards Storm. “I _will_ find him. He still needs to pay for trying to kill Percy, and now, I’ll make him pay for doing this to you, to Thalia, to _all of us._ ”

Chiron frowned and his hands tightened on her shoulders. “Adrasteia, listen to me carefully. You must not let your thirst for revenge consume you. If you cross into that dark part of your life, I’m afraid that no one friendly is waiting for you on the other side.”

Addie cocked her head at her mentor and father-figure, confused and a little afraid. “What do you mean?”

But Chiron only stared at her a little longer before pulling her in for one final embrace. “I must go, child. Please look after the children. I’m counting on you to ensure they don’t hurt themselves, especially Percy.”

Addie wanted to say no. She wanted to scream and curse and swear to him that she was going to find Luke and drown him in the depths of the sea for doing this.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she hugged Chiron one final time and then watched him, tears streaming down her face, and he rode off and out of sight.

Soon, he was gone.

It couldn’t have been too long before that rage returned, and her tears increased as her mouth curled into a snarl.

_“Damn it!”_ She cried, turning around and kicking one of the low-hanging tree branches near her. It snapped with the force of her leg and went flying several feet as Addie paced, running a hand down her face and fighting to get her emotions under control.

Finally, after about ten minutes, she had decided. With a sigh, she started for the boundary line.

**Percy P.O.V**

After the disaster dinner that brought me my new baby brother, I found myself laying in my bunk, staring at the ceiling of stones. Tyson’s snoring, which resembled a small tractor trailer, was making it almost impossible to get any sleep. But I knew that wasn’t the real reason.

With a sigh, I shifted in bed and my eyes moved to the bunk near mine. The bed pushed to the very corner of the large room, cozied up next to the window.

Addie’s bed.

All I could think was what she would do in a situation like this. Knowing her, she’d probably start planning some way to go after Luke, and then forbidding me to join her. I hadn’t told her about my dream; I knew she’d panic and leave her fancy new job immediately, and I didn’t want that. After all the stories I’d heard from her, Annabeth, Grover, and Chiron about how life was like for her growing up here, I knew it was selfish to wish she’d leave it all and come back.

But I was freaking out. How could I do this? How could I do this without the two main people who’d taught me last summer?

Sometime after, I started dozing off, but was suddenly jolted awake.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I felt confused. What woke me up? The entire cabin was silent except for Tyson’s snores, but I felt the hairs on my skin stand up. I felt like I was being watched.

A shadow flashed out of the corner of my eye, and I whipped around towards the window.

Nothing there.

But I uncapped Riptide, the glint from the blade offering a small glow in the darkness. I’d seen something, I was sure of it.

“Tyson!” I hissed, not wanting to be too loud and alert whatever was out there that I was onto them. But Tyson didn’t even stir. He just kept snoring.

“Tyson!” I tried again, a little louder, but at that same time, another shadow fell across the window on the far side of the cabin; the one closest to the door. I felt my heart leap.

Whatever was out there was trying to come in.

I practically ran to the door, pressing my back to the wall beside it. I heard footsteps, super quiet, and sounded human. They shuffled towards the door, and then the knob slowly twisted. I felt my heartbeat in my ears, and my hands were clenched around Riptide’s hilt.

The door slowly opened, and a shadowy figure slipped inside, looking towards the bunks. Their back was to me, and I swung down-

-and the figure whipped around, catching my wrist and twisting it until Riptide clattered to the ground. They moved so fast I didn’t even have time to shout, grabbing my shirt and kicking my knees out from under me. My back hit the ground with enough force to knock all the air out of my lungs, and I closed my eyes, groaning.

“Ok, if I had known _this_ was the ‘welcome home’ I would get, I think I would have just stayed in Scotland.”

My eyes flew open at her voice, and I couldn’t stop the smile that nearly split my face in half.

“Addie!”

My older half-sister smirked at me and stood up, holding out her hand and pulling me to my feet. I nearly fell over; sometimes I forgot she was so strong.

“Percy?!” Tyson’s voice made us both jump and then there was a loud _thud!_

The ground seemed to tremble slightly, and I knew he must have fallen out of bed.

“Who the hell is that?” Addie questioned, her voice dripping in suspicion. I realized that she probably couldn’t see anything except Tyson’s outline, and I fumbled for the light switch.

We all blinked as the lights came on, momentarily blinding us. When our eyes finally adjusted, Addie shouted and grabbed my arm, whipping me around and standing in front of me.

“How did you get in here?” She demanded, yanking her long dagger, Storm, from her neck. She pointed it at Tyson, her face dark and her muscles rigid.

“No! No, wait!” I shouted, grabbing her arm and yanking her sword down, “He’s a friend! He won’t hurt us?”

Tyson, who had thrown up his hands like she was pointing a gun at him, nodded frantically. “Yes, friend! Not a monster!”

Addie narrowed her eyes but pulled at the sides of her hilt and strung Storm back up on her neck. Her weapon looked cooler than mine, especially back in normal form. It was in the shape of a shark tooth necklace on a golden chain, clean and shiny like a pearl. When in dagger form, the celestial bronze hilt was embedded with sapphires.

“Perc, you want to tell me what the hell is going on?” She demanded, using her ‘don’t-lie-to-me-I-can-see-into-your-soul’ voice. The steely look in her brown eyes made me flinch; she and my dad sometimes acted so much alike it was scary. The same hard-set face, sharp jaw bone, and a dangerous air about them that made you tense up.

“Um, dad claimed him.”

Addie’s eyes widened and looked over at Tyson. He smiled brightly, seeming to forget that she had just been threatening to shish-ka-bab him not even five minutes ago.

“Oh. Er, alright.” She sighed and ran her hands through her thick black curls. “Normally I’d start asking more questions, but with the year I’ve been having, I don’t think I’ll worry too much about it.” She turned to Tyson and waved half-heartedly. “Hey, big guy. I’m Addie.”

“You are Percy’s friend?” Tyson inquired, and she chuckled.

“Actually, I’m his sister.”

Tyson’s face lit up, and he cried out, “Sister!”

Poor Addie didn’t have the chance to ask Tyson to keep his distance before he swooped in and threw his arms around her, lifting her into the air and spinning her around like a rag doll. My eyes widened and lunged forward.

“Woah, woah, big guy!” I shouted, trying not to laugh at the stormy look on Addie’s face as he finally set her down. “She’s not a rag doll.”

Once Tyson had come down from the high of having a sister, he knocked out again. Addie and I were sitting on her bunk as she unpacked some of her stuff, talking.

“So, you dreamed about the tree being poisoned?”

Addie nodded, fingering one of her t-shirts thoughtfully. “I couldn’t tell if it was Luke, though, not for sure. I got Chiron’s letter right as I was leaving; turned up just in time to say good-bye.”

Her voice caught, and she cleared her throat. “Anyway, Percy, there’s something you should know…“

Shutting her suitcase, she slid it under her bed and sat down next to me. It was then I noticed how different she looked. Before she’d left school, she had piercings going all the way up her ear and wore homemade jewelry made of seashells and leather chords. Now, her skin was a little paler than it had been since she’d been stuck somewhere with no sun, and the highlights from the sunshine she’d gotten here were gone, as well as her piercings. I could also tell she had been away from the ocean too long; her face wasn’t as bright, and she looked exhausted.

With a sigh, she reached up and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. I saw that she was still wearing the cone shell bracelet. I had a matching one; I never took it off. She’d made it for me right before I went on my first quest last summer.

“Percy, the only reason I was able to enter the boundaries is because of Thalia’s tree being poisoned.”

I couldn’t speak; I was too confused. I just stared at her.

“What- what do you mean?”

“Look, Zeus hates me, ok? He didn’t even want me here when I was a kid. Long story short, the Gods told me when I was young that as soon as I turned eighteen, I would need to leave. When I was eighteen, dad talked to them and persuaded them to give me one more year. That’s when I started looking into teaching.”

I felt my chest go tight, and my mouth go dry. “So- so you’re saying…?”

Addie nodded. “As soon as we fix the boundaries, I’ll be forced to leave. I can never cross back in.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing from another POV was so much fun, I hope I got his tone right! Please comment and kudos, and I’ll see y’all next time


	15. BIRDWATCHING FROM HELL

Camp was… _different._

Addie could sense the tension in the air when she returned. Long gone were the friendly competitions, bonfire sing-alongs and the laughter of friends and half-siblings. In their places were border patrols, more weapons training, quiet mealtimes and barely enough sleep. The campers didn’t even possess the energy for the sing-alongs, let alone the enthusiasm, and the fact that Tantalus had re-instated the chariot races didn’t help.

Addie had been there for the last chariot race; she couldn’t have been older than twelve when one of her friends, (Ally, daughter of Hermes) had gotten her leg cut off and another camper (Henry, son of Ares) had snapped his neck and died. Both happened due to the same crash. Other campers were injured, but those had both been the deciding factor to end the chariot races on top of a previous death the summer before. Chiron declared them too dangerous.

_Chiron._ Addie’s heart ached as she sat on the beach, letting the rolling waves and sea breeze attempt to clear her mind. She missed her mentor and father-figure. It had, after all, only been about a week since she’d said good-bye to him. She’d waited and watched over the camp after he left, keeping an eye on Percy.

After she’d made her presence known (and met yet another younger half-sibling), she’d had to go meet with Tantalus and Dionysus the next morning.

Needless to say, neither of them were particularly happy to see her.

_One week earlier…_

_Addie sat, back straight and face blank as the two men in front of her glared._

_“I don’t remember inviting you back, Ariana.” Mr. D said, swirling his Diet Coke can. Addie shrugged._

_“I felt like a dream of the pine tree that guards this entire camp being poisoned was a good indicator to visit home.”_

_“And you thought that sneaking into the camp, during a border crisis, was your best course of action?” Tantalus sneered, and Addie felt her lip curl at the man’s leathery, gray skin._

_“How’s the food here, Tantalus? As good as you’ve heard, or even better?”_

_The tormented man shot to his feet, eyes blazing down at her. “You should watch your tone with me,_ girl.”

_“I don’t know what you mean.” She responded innocently, “I was just asking a question.”_

_“Do you think I’m stupid?”_

_“I feel like someone who’s existed as long as you should know better than to ask a question like that.”_

_“Enough.”_

_Dionysus’ voice cut off their argument indefinitely, puncturing the air with a warning underbelly to his tone. He turned his watery purple eyes to Addie._

_“Tantalus is right, Andrea. You’re lucky Lord Zeus didn’t strike you down the second you passed back into camp.”_

_Despite the threat, Addie couldn’t fight down the leaking curiosity and suspicion in her chest. She pressed her lips together before responding. “And why didn’t he?”_

_This time it was Mr. D that sneered, and then rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter; not right now, anyway. The point is, I’m watching you. I don’t know what you’re planning for this summer, Alyssa, but I do want you to know_ this _: The second I see any type of insubordination, any disobedience or mutiny, you will be cast out of this camp with only the weapon around your neck to defend you. Let’s see how you fare out in the woods on your own with the monsters flocking around the camp.”_

_Addie had to fight to keep her glare on her face. The truth was, the thought of such a fate terrified her. But she refused to let Dionysus see that. Instead, she stood up and walked out without looking back._

“Your face is going to get stuck like that.”

Percy’s voice made her jump, but she smiled at the sight of her little brother. The beach was often a place that the two would go to talk and feel closer to their father. Closer as a family.

Stopping a few feet from her, he pulled Riptide out of his pocket. “You’ve been at camp for a week, and we still haven’t gotten a chance to spar.”

Addie only cocked an eyebrow at the younger teen, standing as she spoke. “You know what you’re asking for, right?”

He uncapped his sword. “Yep.”

She smirked, and yanked Storm from her neck. The dagger shimmered in the setting sun rays that bounced off the lapping water and swung it around before getting into position. “Then by all means, little brother.”

Percy lunged first; unsurprising. He went to slash at her arm, but she was ready. Catching his blade with her own, she twisted and flipped the blade around before lifting her leg and kicking her little brother in the gut. It wasn’t as hard as she normally hit, but it did enough to send him back a few feet. Going on the attack, she sent her dagger in a thrusting motion to his chest. He blocked her and tried to disarm her but wasn’t fast enough. Halfway through his twisting motion, she caught on and leveraged her blade, forcing the two face-to-face as they pressed their weapons together.

“Remember: Don’t be so eager to attack. Let your opponent come to you.” She reminded him. He grunted and shoved her back, spinning and slashing his sword at her. She lunged back and brought up her own bade to parry, knocking his blade back just long enough to slash at his arm. He barely missed getting nicked on his bicep, stumbling back as she moved on the attack.

Slash, lunge, thrust, parry, block. She was slowly moving him into the waves, and Percy saw the playful glint in his sister’s eyes. A wave crashed over their shoulders, soaking them, but they both felt the burst of energy.

With a cry, he raised his hand and slammed a wave over Addie, hoping to knock her off her feet. But to his surprise, she threw up her hand and _physically caught the wave_.

He stared open-mouthed as she whipped around in a circle and threw out one arm, sending a stream of water into his face. He coughed as it entered his lungs; not that it affected his breathing, it just surprised him.

“Concentrate on the water, Percy.” Addie spoke lowly, feeling the water pick up with their heartrates, “It’s an extension of you. It’s like an extra limb, you just have to learn how to use it.”

As if to prove her point, she lowered her hand to the waves crashing into her knees. Delicately waving her fingers, she slowly raised her hand. A thin column of water followed her command, raising from the sea as she brought it to eye-level.

“And when you’re ready,” she continued, straightening her fingers and pressing them together, “you can use it as a weapon.” She threw her hand out, the water shimmering into a spear-shape as it came at him.

Percy threw up his blade, knocking it into separate droplets again. But Addie was just getting started. Stringing Storm back onto her neck, she began using both hands as she sent a flurry of water attacks at him. He was barely blocking most of them, and he noticed how they hit hard enough to cause some actual damage to any other mortal or demigod. After several minutes, Addie stopped.

“You need to learn to catch things, both water and solid objects.” She told him, her curls plastered to her skin and her brown eyes glinting with adrenaline, “Throw Riptide at me.”

“What?!”

“Like you’re trying to spear me; don’t be afraid, I can catch it.”

Percy looked unsure, but Addie wasn’t. She wiggled her fingers, breathing in the salty air and feeling the waves on her skin, the vibrations of the sea life around her and the tide that controlled them. The water lapping at her knees seemed to sync up with her heartrate as she readied herself.

Finally, her younger brother flung his sword forward with a cry. It spung through the air, celestial bronze gleaming in the setting sun.

Addie was ready.

With a small grunt, she threw her hands about three feet apart. A sphere of water grew within seconds, right as the blade was nearing her chest. Riptide stopped dead in the watery prison, suspended. Percy stared at it with wide eyes.

“And don’t ever waste an opportunity.”

Shifting so her target was away from her brother, she narrowed her eyes and began waving her hands together before spinning them in a circle and throwing her right hand in front of her with a cry. Riptide launched from the sphere with full speed, flying into the shallows behind Percy.

They sparred for another hour or so before they both collapsed onto the sand, panting. The dark-haired teen turned his head to look at his sister, face slack with exhaustion.

“I’m never going to beat you.”

Addie snickered. “No, you’re not. But don’t worry; I’ll never be the one to fight you.”

“How long did it take you to master water manipulation?” He demanded, sitting up. His eyes were gleaming with excitement despite the aching in his muscles. Addie sat up slower, brown eyes on the endless blue in front of them.

“It took a long time, Perc. Almost five years before I could bring more than a droplet up from the sea. It’s not easy. It requires real energy, and you feel the weight. It’s just like carrying a heavy object; you need the endurance and the strength. And you _need_ to be careful. Even the lightest weapons can start to weigh you down when you’re tired.”

Percy nodded, turning his gaze back to the ocean. They sat in silence for another ten minutes or so, enjoying the solitude before he spoke without looking back at her.

“I’m glad you’re here. With Chiron gone, I- I don’t know what to do, Dee. How do I handle this?”

She turned to him, face setting. _“You_ don’t. _We_ do. Don’t worry about it, ok? I’ll make sure Luke pays for what he’s done; you just worry about the chariot races tomorrow.”

You’d think as a member of Cabin Three Addie would be allowed to participate in camp events, but Tantalus was thrilled to receive another person to torture. So, she was forced to stand off to the side at all events and watch. Or, in this case, she’d be the one at the starting line to set the race off.

He didn’t say she couldn’t help _prepare_ though, which was how Addie found herself standing with Tyson at the chariot as Percy whispered furiously with Annabeth a few feet away.

“Pretty girl does not like me.”

Addie looked up from where she was gathering the horse harnesses to see Tyson watching Percy and Annabeth sadly. She sighed, working to untangle a buckle as she spoke.

“Give her time, Tyson. She’s had some bad experiences, but I’m sure she’ll come around.” The daughter of Poseidon wasn’t entirely sure if her words rang completely true; Annabeth was prideful, and with pride came stubbornness. That meant the young blonde could let her prejudice drag out for years with no real issues.

But the hurt look in the baby cyclops’ eye pierced Addie’s chest, even just a little, and she bit her lip before handing a harness to him.

“Here. Come help me harness the horses?”

Tyson nodded eagerly, his hurt momentarily forgotten, and allowed his older sister to lead him around to the front of the chariot where the horses were waiting.

The chariot was, in Addie’s (slightly biased) opinion, the best one there. It was shimmering green and blue, with rippling gold and black designs of sea creatures along the sides. She’d given some design input and there were goldens spikes coming from the large wheels, threatening to shred anyone that came too close. Each chariot held a driver and a fight; Percy would be the driver since cyclops weren’t known for their dexterity, and Tyson would be pushing away opponents with a long, thick stick.

Personally, Addie had thought the stick should have been pointed, but apparently that was frowned upon.

The chariot was being pulled by two gorgeous black stallions named Onyx and Noir. They were always happy to see Addie and Percy, but at the sight of Tyson, they whinnied and shifted their hooves nervously.

_No! Monster!_

Addie held up her hand to Tyson and turned back to the horses. Holding up her hand, she slowly stroked Onyx’s snout.

_Shhhh, it’s ok,_ she soothed, _he’s a child of Poseidon. Just like me and Percy._

_No! He eats horses, my lady!_ Noir whimpered from her other side, and she brought up her other hand to slowly run her nails through his mane. Both horses slowed their movements at her ministrations, but she could still sense their fear.

_Listen, you two. I would_ never _let anyone hurt you,_ she reassured lowly, _and that includes right now. I would never allow anyone to get near you if I thought they would harm you, now would I?_

Both horses were still casting nervous glances Tyson’s way, and Addie sighed.

_Do you want some sugar cubes?_

That got their attention. Shaking her head and smiling, she beckoned Tyson closer as she reached into the saddle bag at her feet.

“Here,” she took her youngest brother’s hand and positioned it flat, “keep your hand flat and put the cube right in your palm. Then, you just hold it close to them and let them take it.”

Holding onto his hand, Addie held Tyson’s peace offering out towards Onyx. He snuffled suspiciously at Tyson’s skin, but the temptation of the treat offered must have been too much and he gobbled it up happily.

They repeated the process several times with each horse before either was willing to let Tyson harness them, and by that point, Percy had finished his conversation with Annabeth. Addie observed the angry look in his green eyes as he helped them finish and nodded to the girl.

“What happened?”

Percy looked unsure, like he was nervous to talk about it, and opened his mouth. “Well, see, I’ve been having these-“

“To your marks!”

Tantalus’s voice stopped him, and he sighed in frustration before jumping into the chariot and grabbing the reigns. “I’ll tell you after the race.”

Addie didn’t even have time to respond before he was steering the chariot to the starting line. Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Athena pulled up next to it. The drivers and fighters all looked like they’d just drank fifteen shots of espresso, their eyes bright with adrenaline and their fingers squeezing the reigns.

Tantalus looked a little preoccupied with chasing a chocolate éclair around the silver platter in front of him, but off-handedly he called, “Charioteers, attend your marks!”

Bending down to grab the blazing red fabric of the start flag, Addie stood in front of the chariots. “Alright, a clean race, you all understand? No killing, no maiming, no hurting any of the horses on purpose, no fires and no waves.” She cocked an eyebrow at Percy before turning back to them and raising both hands over her head. “Now, get ready…”

The horses pawed at the ground…

“Get set…”

The drivers all shifted the reigns in their fingers, the fighters readying their weapons as their eyes focused on the dirt track in front of them…

“GO!”

She threw both her hands down and the chariots thundered past her the second the red fabric dropped, the hooves of the horses mixing with the rattling of the wood and the cheers of the crowd. As Addie moved to her spot on the bleachers, her eyes caught the pigeons sitting in the trees. But something felt off; she narrowed her eyes at the fat white and gray birds. Those didn’t look quite right. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about them felt off…

_CRASH!_

The Hermes chariot had crashed head-on into the Apollo chariot, effectively flipping it and sending the duo inside tumbling out. Panicked and confused, the golden palominos strapped to it continued to pull it diagonally across the track. The Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot, Travis and Connor, high-fived at their good luck.

But nothing lasts forever.

The horses of the Apollo chariot were still freaking out and had inadvertently dragged their empty chariot straight into the Stoll’s path, sending them both flying into the grass beside them and smashing their chariot.

_Well, it sure feels good to be home._

Loud cawing, resembling mechanical screeches, drew her attention from the race to the sky. The fat pigeons from before had lifted from the trees and were beginning to circle. No, not circle. They were screeching and whipping around, resembling a large white and gray tornado.

Addie’s heart dropped.

_Shit._

The Stymphalian birds descended on the crowd, slashing and pecking at the flesh of everyone there. Panicked cries and shouts for weapons were drowned out by the cawing and screeching of the animals.

Addie yanked Storm from her neck and began knocking as many down as she could. But there were _thousands_ and taking them out one-by-one was nowhere near effective enough. One bit at her particularly hard on the arm, and she shouted in pain before spinning around and beheading it. The silver head rolled away on the ground as its red eyes dimmed.

By now, the chariot racers had recognized the threat and Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson bolted towards her, slashing and jabbing at pigeons as they went.

“How do we get rid of them?!” Percy cried in panic, and Addie sliced a bird in half that was gunning for his head as she shouted back.

“We have archers, but there’s too many campers in the line of fire! It’s not safe!”

“Wait! Wait, what about your powers, Addie?” Percy pointed to the lake not too far away. “There’s water right there!”

“Percy, I can’t! Trying to drown them would hurt the other campers!”

“Wait, I’ve got it!” Annabeth suddenly cried, stabbing one bird and using it to smash another. “Hercules used noise! Brass bells! He scared them away with the most horrible noises! You guys, Chiron’s collection!”

That’s right; Addie had almost completely forgotten Chiron’s love of Dean Martin’s music. He swore up and down it was the most wonderful creation since the lightbulb.

“Go!” She ordered them, “Get the music, I’ll prepare everyone else!”

As the trio busted into the Big House, Addie turned and ran into the fray, slicing and destroying birds as she went. “Archers! Archers, prepare to shoot!”

They all looked at her like she was crazy but began to ready their bows and arrows as Addie and the Athena and Ares campers rallied around the group, defending them as they prepared. She could hear Tantalus shouting something about everything being under control somewhere in the background.

One of Annabeth’s siblings shrieked as a bird clamped onto his hand, and Addie lifted her dagger and cut him in half-

_“AHHH!”_

-only to miss the bird dive bombing towards her. She screamed in pain as its bronze, razor sharp beak sliced straight down her left eye.

She threw her hand over it, feeling blood starting to gush into her eye. It stung, and her eye almost immediately swelled shut. A stabbing pain flared across her head and she fought to clear her thoughts.

Right then, the awful sounds of Dean Martin began blaring across the camp.

It worked.

The birds went nuts as the painfully awful cries of Italian moaning pierced the air, and Addie threw her arm out to point Storm at them. “Archers! _NOW!_ ”

The arrows began knocking birds out of the sky left and right. Most of Apollo’s children could shoot five or six at once, but there were still thousands of birds, and they were beginning to run out of ammo. Growling softly, she stabbed her blade into the ground and took off for the lake.

“Addie!” She heard Percy calling her, but she didn’t look back. Stopping halfway between the race and the lake, she held up her hands, closing her other eye and focusing.

_Feel the water, feel it in your skin, feel it in your blood. Focus…_

Opening her eyes, she felt her skin begin to heat up as she dragged her right hand into the air. A large, thick column of water rose from the lake, following her command she turned around and threw her hand towards the dark wave of birds, still shrieking and panicking.

The water engulfed them, and she waved her other hand, weaving the column into a large sphere. It spun and splashed in the air as she trapped the birds. They wiggled and squirmed, but they didn’t die.

_Gods, I miss my wand…_ Addie thought frustratingly. Ignoring the screaming in her muscles, she held her hands apart from each other and began to press them together, against an imaginary ball between them.

Everyone beneath the watery crystal ball stopped in awe to watch as the pressure from the water began crushing the birds, slowly and painfully destroying them as their cries were drowned out. Addie grunted and pushed harder, feeling the destruction between her hands and she fought to control it.

With a final cry, she slammed her hands together, palms meeting as the water crushed the birds to pieces and fell to the ground with a large _fwoosh!_ Everyone was soaked and wincing as mechanical parts smacked them in the head. A wave of exhaustion rushed over her, and Addie felt her legs give out, watching as the ground rushed up to greet her.

It went black before she even hit the grass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed seeing Addie's abilities; they play very big part in her story!


	16. GODS AND OLD FACES

As soon as Addie woke up on that hospital bed, she knew they were screwed.

Will was hovering over her, light blonde hair cropped close to his head and bright blue eyes narrowed in concern. She huffed out a laugh.

“I’m like nine years older than you, Will. You shouldn’t have to worry about me.”

“You’ve been out for almost eight hours.” The son of Apollo responded, pointing at the _Photographs of Olympus_ calendar on the wall. “Tantalus issued a quest.”

_That_ got her attention. Ignoring the aching in her muscles, the young woman sat up. “To who?”

Judging by the look on Will’s face, she knew she wasn’t going to like the answer.

It was dark out, not that Addie minded. She preferred getting reamed by Dionysus when all the other campers couldn’t hear him.

Addie had been kicked out. It was more Tantalus than the God of Wine, but both told her that her little ‘stunt’ with the water had earned her an eviction notice. She had to be gone from camp by sunrise. She could take what she could carry.

But she wasn’t packing.

Instead, she changed into her favorite purple bikini and threw on an old black tank and daisy dukes, grabbing her surfboard from storage. It was a little dusty, but nothing she couldn’t fix. She ached to be back out on the water, to feel the sea spray on her skin, the adrenaline rush of an approaching wave, the feeling she got when she knew she’d nailed it. Tying her curls into a messy bun on top of her head, she headed to the beach.

It would appear she wasn’t the only one, either.

Percy sat on a blanket facing the ocean, sipping a can of Coke. She bit back a giggle; they both had their own soda addictions that the Hermes cabin was happy to use against them for favors. Quietly, she slipped off her sandals and walked through the sand towards him.

“I was surprised you weren’t there when I woke up.”

Her brother jumped violently, but his eyes lit up as she stuck her board into the sand and plopped down beside him. She smiled at him.

“Then again, you’re not exactly patient.” She teased. Percy shrugged, suddenly looking guilty.

“I wanted to talk to Tantalus at the sing-a-long, I-“

“Wanted to see if he’d give you the quest?”

He stopped, looking sheepish as she cocked an eyebrow at him. “Percy, you know you can tell me anything. Why didn’t you tell me about the Fleece?”

He looked back at the blanket, picking at the ties along the sides. “I don’t know, I just… I’ve been dreaming about Grover. Since the end of the school year. He’s in trouble, wherever he is; and in the dream he’s telling me that he knows the location of the Fleece.” He paused, looking towards her. “Do you think it’s a trap?”

Addie didn’t say anything right away, her mind whirring as she kept her gaze on the ocean. The truth was, it did sound suspicious. Grover was one of Percy’s best friends, and him being in trouble while knowing the exact location of the thing they needed, while managing to get into Percy’s dreams, was almost a little too perfect.

“I think we need to be cautious.” She said carefully, “Remember what I told you last summer, Perc. Forget about the quest and focus on your safety. I’ve watched too many demigods die because they wanted to solve the gods problems, and look where it got them.”

“I’m not trying to solve the gods problems-“ Percy started tensely, but she cut him off.

“Yes, you are. Percy, you’re allowed to just focus on yourself, ok? Grover knew the risks when he left-“

“Yeah, but I’m not going to just let him die!” Percy shot back, his voice rising. “He’s my best friend!”

“And you’re my family!” She told him, matching his tone. “You, and Tyson, are the only family I have. You think I’d rather have some bullshit shrine to your heroic deeds or I’d rather have you?”

They both sat there, glaring at each other. The waves in front of them were picking up, starting to crash against the shore with more force. Finally, Addie broke first. “Look, Percy,” she raised her hands up and rubbed her eyes, “I’m sorry about Grover. I am, ok? But I’m begging you to please _listen_ to me. You can’t just rush in every time your friend is in trouble, it makes you vulnerable, it can be used against you.”

Percy didn’t say anything, simply staring at her. Finally, he spoke.

“And if it was me? What would you do if I was the one in trouble?”

Addie froze, lips parting as she floundered for a response. But before she could think of one, a voice nearly gave her a damn heart attack.

“Hope I’m not interrupting.”

Percy whipped around while Addie’s hand went right to Storm. But before she could rip it off, her eyes fell on the speaker, and she froze.

He hadn’t changed at all. He still had the same sly smile, the same salt and pepper hair. Despite that, he looked relatively young. He was wearing a New York City Marathon T-shirt; much different than the gold and white toga she’d last seen him in. Her mind momentarily flashed to over ten years prior, watching as he smiled gently down at her and voted for her to live.

She could tell Percy was absolutely clueless, and probably thought the god in front of him was some mortal who had somehow gotten past the borders.

“May I join you two?” Hermes asked them, gesturing to the large blanket. “I haven’t sat down in ages.”

“Ah,” Percy stuttered, “sure.”

Addie was still too in shock to say anything.

“Your hospitality does you credit!” The god plopped down gracefully beside them. “Oh, Coca-Cola! May I?”

Percy nodded while Addie watched the god warily. _What the hell did he want?_

“That hits the spot.” Hermes sighed, taking a sip of the soda. “Peace and quiet at-“

The air was punctured by a loud ringing sound, and the god rolled his eyes. Pulling his cellphone out of his pocket, he glanced at the LCD screen and groaned.

“One second,” he told them, as if the phone wasn’t glowering and didn’t have two snakes slithering up and down the antenna. “Hello?” He paused, listening, and shook his head. “Listen, I don’t care if he’s chained to a rock with vultures pecking out his liver, if he doesn’t have his tracking number, we can’t locate his package… A gift to humankind, great… Do you know how many of those we deliver- Oh, never mind. Look, refer him to Eris in customer service, I gotta go.”

He hung up, smiling apologetically. “Sorry about that, the overnight express business is just booming. Anyway-“

“You have snakes on your phone.” Was all Percy could say, and Addie closed her eyes, resisting the urge to facepalm.

_Gods, Percy, it’s a good thing you’re brave…_

“What?” Oh, they don’t bite!” Hermes assured them, as if that had been the main issue. “Say hello, George and Martha.”

_Hello, George and Martha_ , a raspy male voice came into Addie’s head, and she smirked.

_Don’t be sarcastic,_ a female voice chimed in.

_Why not? I do all the_ real _work-_

“Oh, let’s not get into that again.” Hermes cut them off, slipping the phone back into his pocket. “Now, where were we? Ah, yes, peace and quiet.”

He stretched his legs and crossed his ankles, looking up at the stars. “Been a long time since I’ve gotten to relax. Ever since the telegraph was invented- rush, rush, rush. Do you have a favorite constellation, Percy?”

“Um,” her brother stammered, looking at the stars. “I like Hercules.”

“Why?”

“Well, cause he had rotten luck. Even worse than mine. It makes me feel better.”

Hermes chuckled, then turned his burning gaze to Addie. “And you, Adrasteia?”

She tried to ignore the way he said her name and nodded at the sky. “Serpens.”

He sighed and nodded. “Yes, I suppose that makes plenty of sense.”

Addie started. “What?”

“Anyway,” the god digressed, and Addie tried not to groan in frustration. _The damn gods and their double meanings._ “What now, Percy?” 

Before her brother could respond, George’s voice filled their heads. _I have Demeter on line two._

Hermes rolled his eyes. “Put her on hold.”

_She’s not going to like that. Last time she wilted all the flowers in the floral division._

“Then just tell her I’m in a meeting!” Hermes dismissed impatiently before turning his attention back to them. “You were saying, Percy?”

“Um, who are you, exactly?”

“Haven’t you guessed? A smart boy like yourself?”

Addie resisted the urge to snort and placed her hand on Percy’s shoulder. “Perc, this is-“

“Oh, let’s not spoil the surprise, Adrasteia.” Hermes admonished, and they heard Martha in their heads again.

_Let’s show him! Oh, please! I haven’t been full size in months!_

Hermes grabbed the phone out of his pocket, holding it up. “Original form, please.”

The phone glowed a brilliant blue, and then it was stretching. Once it hit about three feet long, two wings sprouted from the top. George and Martha grew with it, slithering and writhing up and down the staff, turning a bright green.

A caduceus.

“You’re Hermes.” Percy blurted out. “Luke’s father.”

Addie’s eyes widened and she smacked her brother on the arm. Even the laid-back God of Thieves was easily offended, and referring to him with such a minor title wasn’t exactly smart.

But Hermes merely frowned. “’Luke’s father’. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone refer to me that way. God of Thieves, yes. God of Messengers and Travelers, if they wish to be kind.” He stuck the caduceus into the sand next to Addie’s surfboard.

_God of Thieves works,_ George hissed.

_Oh, don’t mind George,_ Martha reassured them, _He’s just bitter because Hermes likes me best._

_Does not!_

_Does too!_

“Enough, you two, or I will put you on vibrate.” Hermes warned. “Now, Percy, you still haven’t answered my question. What do you intend to do about the quest?”

Percy looked back at Addie, and she nodded. If a god is asking you a question, even a well-intentioned one, you answer.

“I don’t really have permission to go.”

“And you’re going to let that stop you?”

Percy paused now, his eyes narrowing in concentration. “Well, no.”

“You know, I knew a boy like you. Younger than you by far, a mere baby, really.”

_Oh, here he goes again,_ George hissed, and Martha shushed him.

_Shut up! Do you want to get put on vibrate?_

“Anyway,” Hermes continued, “when his mother wasn’t looking, he snuck out of their cave and stole some cattle from Apollo.”

“Didn’t he get blasted to pieces?”

“No, actually. Everything turned out quite well. To make up for his thievery, he gifted Apollo with an instrument he invented, the lyre. Apollo was so enchanted by the music he forgot all about being angry.”

“So, what’s the moral?”

“Do stories always have to have morals, Percy?”

“How about,” Addie spoke, choosing her words carefully, “sometimes you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet.”

To her surprise, Hermes beamed at her. “You should listen to your sister more; her brains are almost as impressive as her beauty.”

Addie’s eyes widened as her cheeks went bright red and Percy looked like he was holding back a glare as Hermes continued. “Anyway, you’ve hit the nail right on the head.”

“You’re saying I should go even without permission.”

Hermes didn’t respond, eyes twinkling. “Martha, may I have the first package?”

The snakes mouth opened twice it’s size, and she belched out a stainless steel cannister. Hermes caught it effortlessly. It had red and yellow paintings on the sides of a hero and Cerberus, the three-headed guard of the Underworld.

“That’s Hercules. But how-?”

“Never question a gift.” Hermes chided Percy, “This is a collector’s item from _Hercules Busts Heads,_ the first season.”

“First season?” Addie questioned, confused. Hermes nodded.

“Great show. Back before Hephaestus TV was all reality programming. Of course, the thermos would be worth much more if I had the whole box…”

_And if it hadn’t come from Martha’s stomach._ George said.

_I’ll get you for that!_ The female snake began to chase him around the caduceus.

“Wait a minute,” Percy interrupted, “this is a gift?”

“One of two.” Hermes told them, eyes shining mischievously. “Go on, hold it.”

Percy held it in his hands, turning it around several times before handing it to Addie. It was burning hot on one side and freezing cold on the other. But she noticed something; the cold side always seemed to face north…

“A compass.” The siblings said at the same time, and Hermes looked surprised.

“Very close; I actually don’t think I’ve heard ‘compass’ before. But the intended use is a bit more dramatic. Uncap it, and you’ll release all the winds from the four corners of the globe. And do me a favor: When you use it, only uncap it just barely. The winds are like me, always restless. Should all four escape at once… Ah, just promise you’ll be careful. Now, George, the second package.”

_She’s touching me._ The snake complained.

“She’s _always_ touching you, you’re intertwined. Now stop that, or you’ll get knotted again!”

The snakes stopped wrestling, and George’s mouth opened equally as large. Out came a small plastic bottle of chewable vitamins.

“Oh Merlin…” Addie whispered, “Are those minotaur shaped?”

“Minotaur’s are the lemon ones, and I believe the grape are Fury’s. Or are they hyrda’s? At any rate, they are potent.” He turned to Addie. I’m giving these to you, Adrasteia, because they need a special guard. Don’t use them until you absolutely need them.”

“When will we need them?” Percy asked, but Hermes only smiled.

“You’ll know.”

“No offense, Lord Hermes,” Percy started, ignoring the warning squeeze Addie gave his leg, “but why are you helping us?”

The god stopped, a melancholy smile taking over his face. “Let’s just say I’m hoping you save more than one person on your quest.”

Addie’s face fell, and she bit her lip. “Luke.”

At the name of their shared enemy, Percy’s face went downcast. “Lord Hermes, I… I don’t know if Luke wants to be saved. He feels betrayed, he told me he wants to pull Olympus down stone by stone. He- he hates you especially.”

Hermes didn’t respond at first, his gaze moving back to the sky for a few seconds. “If there is one thing I’ve learned, dear cousins, it’s that you can’t give up on family. No matter how much they embarrass or berate you or betray you, you just can’t.”

_Or threaten to incinerate you just for existing,_ a bitter, angry voice at the back of Addie’s head chimed in, and Hermes turned to her with a regretful smile, like he knew what she was thinking. _Did he read her mind?_

“Anyway,” he shrunk his caduceus back into a cell phone and stood up, “you two have a much shorter deadline than you realize. Your friends will be here soon; I’ve packed well for you.”

He snapped his fingers, and four yellow duffel bags appeared on the blanket. “If you ask nicely, I’m sure your father will help you reach the ship.”

“Ship?”

The god pointed to the horizon, and both siblings were shocked to see a long cruise ship, looking like a speck in the distance. He smiled at them.

“I wish you the best of luck, Percy Jackson,” his gaze moved to Addie’s, the emotion behind them shifting to something she couldn’t identify, “and Adrasteia Matthews.”

And then he turned and began jogging away.

Now, Addie had never been impulsive by any means. That was Percy’s job. But as the God of messengers got smaller and smaller, his words rang in her head and she jumped to her feet. “Don’t leave without me.” She firmly instructed her younger brother and took off after the god.

“Lord Hermes!”

He stopped, turning to face her with an amused expression as she slowed to a stop just a few feet away. “I- I know you think that I can save Luke, but-” she stopped and shook her head. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

He didn’t answer at first, watching her with an intense expression, and Addie began to think she’d pissed him off when he smiled gently.

“I know you’re still angry, Addie. You’re still furious over his betrayal and you’re not sure if you want to help him after he hurt you like that. It’s,” he paused, stepping closer to her and reaching up with one hand, “such an Olympian quality.”

She nearly jumped when he brushed back a curl that had fallen from her bun, and leg his hand fall, the backs of his fingers momentarily ghosting over her shoulder. “But you’re his best friend. He still cares for you, no matter how angry he is, and vice versa. I have faith in you that you will rise to the challenge.”

Addie was too shocked to do anything, and he smiled one last time before she blinked and he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the single person that's shipping Addie with Hermes, this one was for you lol. Hope you guys liked it, make sure to comment and let me know what you thought!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it, and let me know in the comments section!


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